


What Happened When Blaine Needed More

by haleygirl



Series: What Happened When... [4]
Category: Glee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-01-08 11:52:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 34,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12253869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haleygirl/pseuds/haleygirl
Summary: Blaine and Kurt have been dating for six months and it's going great, especially now that Blaine has transferred to McKinley. But when concerns are raised about Blaine's behavior, they consider adding a new element to their relationship. Contains spanking.





	1. Chapter 1

“Oh man you weren’t kidding when you said McKinley is easier than Dalton!” Blaine blurted out as soon as he got into Kurt’s car in the parking lot after school.   
Kurt rolled his eyes. “Yeah. But you might not want to spread that around too much or people might take it that you’re saying people here are dumb.”  
Blaine’s eyes squinted. “But I’m not saying anyone’s dumb. I’m just saying the teachers here are way nicer.”  
Kurt turned on the car. “Eh. Well I’d say that depends on the teacher you’re talking about. And trust me. There are a lot of idiots at this school. And they’re all a little oversensitive at any implication that that’s what they are.”  
Blaine shrugged. “I have a research paper this semester in my English class and she doesn’t even expect it to be typed! She was like, ‘It’s great if you can type it, but if not just make sure the final copy is in neat handwriting.’ Are you kidding me? If I handed in something handwritten at Dalton I’d probably have gotten a detention.”  
Kurt nodded fondly. “Yes, if Dalton gave me one thing, I will say it forced me to improve my typing skills pretty quickly. That first weekend I spent like six hours straight playing some kid’s typing game I found online. I was terrified all of my homework was now going to take 7 hours a night.”  
“This is amazing. I have less homework, so it’ll basically always get done and my parents will be off my back, I get to see you every day, and I don’t have to commute as far. McKinley’s basically the best thing that’s ever happened to me!”

* * * *

Blaine was singing a slightly different tune towards the end of the next week when he got back his first Algebra II test. He was shocked he got a C+ on it. He was just glad McKinley didn’t have Dalton’s stupid rule about getting a parent signature on anything below a B-.   
Blaine had gotten a few C’s when he’d first started at Dalton, and he’d been nervous but his parents had been mostly understanding about it. They knew going from middle school to high school was a big transition, especially when he was coming from his little public middle school and walking into an extremely competitive prep school. But they made it clear he’d have to work hard and always be doing his best or there’d be consequences. So he got an upperclassman from the Warblers to help him through Geometry and started meeting up with several of his buddies before big Latin tests for study sessions. It paid off, and by sophomore year he was pulling off more than respectable grades all around.   
Kurt sensed something was wrong when he saw Blaine’s dour face at his locker after last period.   
“You okay?” he asked.  
Blaine shrugged. “I guess.”   
“What happened?”  
“I’m just mad at myself.” Blaine admitted, showing his grade to Kurt and then filing it away in his bag. “I should have studied more.”  
“You’re always too hard on yourself,” Kurt suggested, generous.  
Blaine shook his head guiltily. “Not this time. I know I could have done better.”   
Kurt was a decent student most of the time, but he had never really aspired to be valedictorian or anything. He figured his father would probably give him a bit of a talking to if he came home with an F on his report card or something, but he was pretty hands off about Kurt’s day-to-day assignments.   
“You think your parents will make a thing of it?” he asked Blaine.  
“I wasn’t planning on sharing it with them, but after begging them to switch schools it’s safe to say there’s no way they’d be okay with me skating by with a C on anything at this point.” Blaine sighed. “I guess I got kind of cocky.”  
“It’s one grade, Blaine.”  
“I know, but I know what I’m capable of when I do my best, and I know this wasn’t really my best. I had a study hall the day before the quiz and I didn’t even crack the book open, honestly. I was just daydreaming about suggestions for Glee mashups most of the time.”  
Kurt nodded. “At Dalton if you didn’t look like you were productive in a study hall someone would say something. Here no one cares if you sleep through it entirely.”  
Blaine made a face. “Don’t let me get away with that, okay? If I get in the habit of skating by it’ll eventually mess up my final grades and if I got a bad grade on my report card—well at minimum my parents would definitely be limiting how often we’d be able to go out.”  
Kurt did his best to put on a stern face. “We can’t have that. We’ll consider this time a warning but next time you’ll have some explaining to do mister.”  
Blaine held back a grin at Kurt’s impression of a taskmaster. “Yes sir,” he teased, with a little salute.


	2. Chapter 2

“UGH.” Blaine dropped into the seat of Kurt’s car, pulling the door closed with a slam. “You’ve got to talk to your brother before I---“ he raged—“I—I don’t know what. But he’s pushing the limits of my patience!”  
Kurt nodded, understanding but conflicted. “It’s not that big of a deal, Blaine. Finn’ll come around. He just gets full of himself thinking he’s supposed to be a leader or something. And no offense, he’s kind of right—a lot of things that might have worked at Dalton aren’t going to work here.”  
“So I don’t even get a voice? Just because I’m new doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing! He acts like I’m not even a member of the team!” Blaine complained, his volume rising.  
“Hey!” Kurt snapped. “Stop yelling at me!”  
“I’m not—“ Blaine cut himself off, and leaned back against the seat of the car. He took a deep breath and tried to speak lower. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I’m not mad at you.”  
“He’s my brother, Blaine. I can’t get in the middle of the two of you.”  
Blaine pouted, feeling a little abandoned. Kurt put a hand on his shoulder.  
“You get that, right?”  
Blaine nodded, staring out the window rather than looking at him.  
Kurt sighed and started the car. “I’ve never seen you have… such a temper,” he said quietly.  
Blaine chewed on his lip. “I really am sorry Kurt—I—I shouldn’t have been yelling—“  
“No, I know. I’m just saying, you’re usually so… poised.”  
Blaine fidgeted in frustration.  
“It’s not just Finn. All those guys hate me. The Warblers was never like this.”  
“You’ll win them over soon enough. You’re just a little spoiled because the Warblers worshipped you.”  
“They didn’t worship—“  
“Come on, Blaine. How many other show choirs let a sophomore dominate all their competition solos?”  
“I auditioned fair and square—“  
“Yes, yes, I know. But even you said yourself last year—sometimes the Warblers got out of hand with making it all about you. It wasn’t healthy. For you or the team.”  
“I’m not even asking for the spotlight in Glee at all right now. I’ve got plenty with the school musical. I just want to not be treated like a pariah half the time. No matter what I do it’s wrong!”  
“They’re still getting to know you. It’ll get better. I know you don’t mean to sound patronizing when you give advice about how to fix things in Glee, but when you’re new and you came from a place that never had to deal with some of the stuff we put up with every day—sometimes people are just going to take it the wrong way.” Kurt shrugged, focusing his attention on the road.  
“Sometimes I just want to get in Finn’s face and tell him off. Half of the stuff he does is just passive aggressive—it’s crazy making! I’d rather be bullied—“  
“You don’t mean that,” Kurt admonished, a little exasperated with Blaine’s drama at this point.  
“At least a bully’s honest that he hates you and not just complaining about you behind your back half the time. And if he was a bully he’d cut the crap and just try to shove me into a locker or something and I’d be able to fight back.”  
“You’re not going to fight Finn. You’re being ridiculous.”  
“I’m SAYING I’d rather he just hit me since that’s what he obviously wants. Then I’d be able to do something about it rather than having to play nice. Sometimes I honestly just want to punch him in the--”  
“Stop it. No more fighting talk. You’re doing the right thing. Just keep being polite and let it roll off your back.”  
Blaine sulked. “He’s going to turn the others against me.”  
“You’re making it out to be a bigger thing than it is.”  
“Whatever,” Blaine muttered.  
There was a long silence. Kurt pulled into Blaine’s driveway and turned off the car.  
“Did you finish your math homework in study hall?”  
Blaine rolled his eyes, wanting to talk about math even less than he wanted to talk about Finn.  
“Hey, enough of that,” Kurt reprimanded.  
“What?” Blaine asked, surprised at Kurt’s stern tone.  
“You can be mad at Finn and the guys in Glee, but you don’t get to take it out on me. I don’t deserve to get an attitude when I ask about your homework. You told me to stay on you about Algebra, it’s your hardest class.”  
Blaine squirmed, a little embarrassed. “I just have a few more problems left,” he said quietly.  
Kurt nodded, thoughtful. “You remember what you told me about how you feel about doing your best? It’s not just school, right? You held yourself to a high standard in the Warblers—it’s why you got so successful with them.”  
“I knew McKinley would be different. And hard sometimes. I just didn’t think the Glee part would be hard. I kinda thought everyone would just be… excited I joined.” Blaine admitted.  
“Yeah that’s what I thought when I joined the Warblers. Remember how everyone reacted when I started listing songs we should be looking at for sectionals on my first day there? A little humility isn’t the worst thing in the world.”  
Blaine made a face. “You think Finn’s right?”  
“The point isn’t who’s right and who’s wrong. It’s about being professional no matter what. With Mercedes out we can’t afford to have Glee dissolving further. We have to keep our eyes on the prize.”   
“I guess if I’m obsessing over every little slight from Finn I’m not exactly giving Glee my best. Yesterday I spaced when Mr. Schue was giving some notes in Booty Camp because I kept trying to listen to whatever Finn was whispering about me to Puck,” Blaine admitted.  
“When you got that C a few weeks ago, it made you work harder, right? Sometimes you just have to meet a hardship and learn from it what you can. I know Glee is difficult right now, but maybe having to earn people’s trust in Glee will make you a better team player. I know it’s important to you to be successful in school and performing, but what’s most worthy of admiration is a person with good character.”  
Blaine nodded sheepishly. “It isn’t fair for me to take out what’s going on with Finn on you. Especially because it puts you in a difficult position being his brother.”  
Kurt took Blaine’s hand. “Apology accepted.”  
Blaine smiled. “So now I’ve got you managing my homework and my integrity? I really didn’t know what I was getting into with this boyfriend stuff.”  
Kurt leaned in and gave Blaine a quick kiss. “You know I’m always here for whatever you need.”

* * * *

Blaine felt better for a while, but after dinner he went on Facebook and saw that Finn had posted a rant about how frustrated he was with Glee and how some people need to stop acting like they know everything when they don’t—which Blaine saw as a clear jab at him.   
His hands shook a little, wanting to type back a biting reply… but he thought about what Kurt would say. I can’t get into that.  
He sighed, deciding to ignore it. He scrolled lower into his feed and tried to forget about it. He came across a photo that Nick had posted. It was a close up of his elbow, sporting a pretty ugly purple bruise, with the caption: “Battle scars.” The breath left him for a moment, remembering the old feeling he used to get with his friends in Fight Club. He and his buddies had gotten together once or twice early in the summer, but he had to keep it under wraps from his folks. They would definitely never approve. He had felt a little guilty keeping it from Kurt but he didn’t really think he’d understand. Besides, the whole idea of Fight Club was that you don’t talk about Fight Club. He hadn’t thought about it in a long while, and had sort of assumed transferring put his old Dalton hobbies in his past.  
Blaine chewed on his lip. Kurt didn’t want him to push it with Finn, fine. He’d have to get his anger out some other way. He picked up his phone and texted Nick.  
Nice bruise.   
Nick texted back a minute or so later.  
Hey stranger. Thanks I guess lol. Hurts like a mother. Just because you’re not a Warbler anymore doesn’t mean you can’t join some of us for other things you know.  
Blaine hesitated a moment and then texted back. That’s what I was hoping you’d say.


	3. Chapter 3

A couple days later, Blaine was humming quietly to himself as he sat on Kurt’s bed, luxuriating in the soft tickle of Kurt’s mouth, wet against his neck. Kurt had been getting bolder lately, in his own way, and he was enjoying every frustrating second of it.  
“That feels nice…” he encouraged, running his hand along Kurt’s arm as he did so.   
“Hmm… well,” Kurt whispered hotly back, “I suppose we’ll have to stop soo--“ he stopped suddenly. “What’s that?”  
Blaine pulled back, confused. “What’s what?”  
Kurt pulled on Blaine’s shirt. “You have a really bad bruise here.”  
Blaine grinned. “Is it a hickey?”  
Kurt rolled his eyes. “No, not on your neck.” He pulled further at the shirt, concerned. “What happened?”  
Blaine’s eyes widened a moment. “Oh. That. It’s nothing.”  
“It doesn’t look like nothing.”  
“I’ve gotten way worse than that before.”  
“Doing what?”  
Blaine opened his mouth and then closed it. “Um. I saw some of my old buddies from Dalton this weekend.”  
Kurt sat back on his feet, curious as to why Blaine seemed to be hiding something. “Okay. And did they attack you, or…?” he asked, joking.  
Blaine bit his lip. “Uh. Sorta?” he admitted.  
Kurt’s eyebrows jumped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”  
Blaine looked at his hands. “I don’t know if you’d… exactly understand.”  
“Some Dalton guys beat you up? You should report them!”  
“N-no it’s nothing like that. It was all--- consensual.”  
“You’re not making any sense.”   
Blaine sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just, I don’t talk about this normally.”  
“I thought we talked about everything with each other.” Kurt said, trying to sound encouraging rather than lecturing.  
Blaine rubbed the back of his neck. “Well. You know how I was in the Warblers and the Photography Club, and played in the orchestra Dalton? Well… there was sort of another club… of sorts that I never really told you about.”  
“…Yeah?” Kurt could not imagine where he was going with this.  
“I started the Dalton branch of Fight Club.”  
The words hung in the air for a moment.  
Kurt studied Blaine, trying to see if maybe he was kidding or something. Blaine found the silence uncomfortable and finally broke it.  
“I wasn’t keeping it from you, exactly. It’s just that the first rule is kind of that we don’t talk about it so—“  
“You’re being serious.”  
“Yeah.”  
“You’re telling me you got that purple bruise on your shoulder when you were in some kind of fighting tournament.”  
“Yeah, I didn’t think it was something you’d really… get.”  
“I get that you’re crazy.”  
Blaine’s jaw dropped, caught off guard that Kurt seemed so disapproving, feeling almost offended. “It’s not… what you think it’s like.”  
Kurt folded his arms across his chest. “Well than what’s it like?”  
“It’s just a few of us guys, we blow off steam together every now and then. We have rules, to keep the… bruising to less visible places for the most part and---“  
“Yeah because if you got bruises on your face some smart adult might require an explanation?”  
Blaine shrunk a bit. Kurt seemed… mad?  
“Wh-what, do you have… a problem with this?” he stuttered.  
“So you get into fights with hooligans, for fun?”  
“They’re not hooligans. You know practically all of them. Nick’s in it, for God sake.”  
“So your defense is at least you’re not wrestling with perfect strangers?”  
“This isn’t a big deal. We don’t even do it that often—“  
“Where do these fights take place?”  
“Just… different places. After dark generally. Like we used to go sometimes in the woods back behind Wes’ house, and last week we met up in this park in West Lima, and—“  
“So basically you find secluded places after dark, no supervision—do you bring a first aid kit at least?”  
Blaine was starting to find this a bit exasperating. “Kurt. No. I took boxing lessons, you know. I can take care of myself.”  
“Right. Lessons. So either you can build up your skills in the safety of a gym with a defibrillator on hand, or you can use them for self-defense in an emergency. Fighting’s not supposed to be… some kind of hobby.”   
Blaine frowned. “I can’t believe you’re making an issue of this.”  
“You’ve been doing this the whole time I’ve known you?”  
“Yeah. Since before I knew you—since Freshman year.”  
Kurt shook his head. “If you really believed I wouldn’t think this was a big deal you would have told me about it long ago.”  
Blaine rubbed the back of his neck. “N-no I wouldn’t. I told you, it’s not even like we get together that often. Maybe once a month, at most—and a lot of times people are busy, so not everyone goes every time. I didn’t even go most of the summer!”  
“This is dangerous. One of you is going to end up seriously hurt.”  
Blaine chuckled a little in spite of himself. “We all get hurt. At least a little. I don’t know, it’s sort of the point. And then someone wins or someone says they’ve had enough and we all shake hands and… it’s just stress relief. Some people do yoga, I don’t know. I do this.”  
“Well. I don’t want you to go anymore.”  
There was a long pause.  
“This is… really that big a deal to you?”  
“You have a dark bruise inches from your neck, Blaine. What if you got a concussion? What if you’re fighting and the other guy knocks you up against a tree or something? You could end up paralyzed or—“  
“That’s not going to happen—“  
“You told me to keep on you about your grades. You’re okay with me sharing my opinion about how you deal with Finn and stuff. Maybe you should listen to me on this too. You don’t have to agree with me. But maybe you should just respect my wishes about it.”  
Blaine tilted his head, concerned. “Of—of course I respect your wishes. I hope you don’t think—if you don’t want me to go back I won’t. I just didn’t expect you to be so upset about this. I’ll always do whatever you tell me to do. You’re way more important to me than—anything—else.”  
Kurt smiled, relieved. “Do I sound like your mother? I just care too much about you to think of you doing something unsafe.”  
Blaine took Kurt’s hand in his. “Maybe sometimes. But… I like that you do. Maybe you’re right. Maybe the guys and I have been a little blasé about this. I like that you care enough to scold me a little if you really think I need it.”  
Kurt leaned forward and kissed Blaine on the lips. “You do get a little out of hand sometimes. Someone has to reign you in,” he teased.  
Blaine nodded, rubbing his nose against his boyfriend’s. “I guess I should be grateful I haven’t been taken to the woodshed then.”  
“Well, believe me, it was definitely under consideration back in the old days when you were getting a big head singing every solo under the sun.”  
“Hey!”  
“You know you like attention. It wouldn’t have been the worst thing in the world if a firm hand took you down a notch back then.”  
Blaine pouted. “I auditioned fair and square for those—“  
“I know, I know.” Kurt said, rolling his eyes. “You didn’t have to take them all though. And you could have used your influence to spread the solo love around some more.”  
“I did! I got you a competition solo!”  
Kurt smiled. “Yes, you redeemed yourself at last there. But I have a suspicion that that was mainly because you were smitten with me at the time, not because you’d suddenly discovered humility.”  
Blaine smirked. “Fair point. But if you’re looking to increase my humility I will say that Nick pounded me good the other night, so if it makes you feel better I wasn’t exactly bragging or anything in the end.”  
“Hmm. Well if it’s just that you need some humbling sometimes, I may have to consider this woodshed option more seriously.”  
Blaine rolled his eyes. “Gonna build one in your backyard?”  
“I just might!” Kurt teased.  
“Hmm. Well I guess I’ll just have to stay on my best behavior.”  
“That’s right. I don’t think you’d much enjoy it if I put you over my knee, mister.”  
Blaine grinned. “Maybe not, but I’d likely get distracted from learning my lesson if I realized you were breaking our nothing below the equator rule at last—“  
Kurt tossed a pillow at Blaine’s head.  
“Shut up!”  
“I’m just saying! I know we were saving that for a very special moment so---“  
“You’re incorrigible.”  
“Yes sir.” Blaine smiled.  
“What am I supposed to do with you?”  
“You could kiss me some more.”  
“And encourage this saucy behavior? That’s how we got here.”  
“You love it.”  
“I do. And you.” Kurt leaned his forehead against Blaine’s. The sound of the garage door opening rattled. “My dad’s home.” Kurt groaned.  
Blaine sighed. “Yeah.” He rubbed his thumb over Kurt’s. “I’m really sorry about the Fight Club thing. If I knew it would be something that bothers you I wouldn’t have stayed involved in it.”  
Kurt nodded. “I just like you all in one piece. You have to stay that way, okay?”  
“I promise. No more unsupervised brawls in the woods for Blaine Anderson.”


	4. Chapter 4

Blaine didn’t give Fight Club another thought for several days after that, being pretty swamped with homework, Glee, and West Side Story rehearsals now in full swing. The latter was proving to be a lot of work. He really respected Artie and wanted to do his best for him, and sharing the lead with Rachel Berry was a tall order in itself. He kept reminding himself that he was a Junior after all. They could have given the lead to Kurt, or Puck, or some other Senior, and he took pains to make sure no one thought he was cocky about it. He felt a special responsibility to prove he’d deserved the faith the casting committee had shown for him.   
It was challenging balancing everything at times. Algebra II remained somewhat of a nemesis for him, and Physics wasn’t turning out to be much of a walk in the park either. He’d begun using his time in study hall to review his lines and staging rather than his homework. The work wasn’t super hard compared to what would have been expected at Dalton, but it was hard to stay motivated to keep up with class that held less interest for him with everything else, and those responsibilities tended to be put off to the end of the day. Kurt insisted on spending at least 20-30 minutes every day on the phone before bed talking through their shared evening skin care regimen, and more often than not Blaine found he still had homework left to do when he hung up with him. After a few days of trying to get it done late into the night and coming in to school all bleary-eyed, Blaine tried a different tactic. On days when Kurt was driving in, he’d go to bed at the normal time the night before and try to rush through his leftover homework in the car on the way in.  
It took awhile, but Kurt started to notice and finally called him on it.  
“How come you’re always still finishing up work in the morning?” he asked.  
“I fell asleep in the middle of this last night—“ Blaine responded, half-listening and half-focused on his calculations of a math problem.  
“Don’t you have a study hall every day?”  
Blaine shrugged. “Just got a lot on my plate is all.”  
“You’re unlikely to get good grades if you’re always handing in work that’s half done and rushed through every morning.”  
Blaine look askance at Kurt. “Well I’m not going to get good grades if I don’t hand in my homework at all and get zeros,” he said, cranky.  
“You told me to be on you about your work—“  
“I know, and I’m doing it!” Blaine argued.  
“And if you’re always finding yourself with work the next morning either you’re overcommitted or you’re not planning your time wisely enough. You certainly seem to have plenty of time to be posting on Facebook late into the night.” Kurt scolded.  
Blaine scowled, choosing not to respond otherwise. He hadn’t been able to see his friends from the Warblers much in awhile and Facebook was the main avenue by which he was staying up on a lot of their gossip. Kurt was right, but he didn’t like it.  
Stopping at the traffic light by the school, Kurt looked Blaine over. “You have nothing to say for yourself?”  
“What? I told you—“  
“I think when we talk about stuff like this you’re going to need to examine your tone.” Kurt said cooly.  
“You’re starting to sound like my father or something…” Blaine grumbled.   
Kurt nodded. “You admitted yourself the other night that you need a good scolding every now and then,” he reminded Blaine, “I’m not going to be embarrassed to give you what you need.”  
Blaine looked up at Kurt and then away, unsure what to say to that. Kurt continued to drive and cleared his throat. “Are you proud of your grades right now?”  
Blaine squirmed. “Some of them.”  
“Am I off-base in guessing that maybe some of these homework grades lately haven’t been top-notch?”  
Blaine looked at his hands. “…No,” he admitted. “I’ve gotten some points off for some… silly mistakes. I’m tired. It’s stupid because a lot of my classes were harder at Dalton--”  
“Here it’s a little easy to rest on your laurels until it catches up with you?”  
Blaine nodded. “It’s not like my grades are bad. Just some assignments lately were… maybe not my best.”  
“I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now, but it’s not healthy to be running yourself ragged and you’re not doing your best work if it’s always put off to the last minute. Maybe you need some incentive to stay more on top of things.”  
“Incentive?”  
“I can tell if you’re signed into Facebook late at night, and of course I’m going to know if you’re just doing your homework on the ride in. Maybe if you continue having trouble meeting your responsibilities appropriately you’ll need more than a little talking-to.”  
Blaine’s eyebrows shot up at that. “You want to… punish me?”  
“If your parents found out your grades were slipping and you were starting to barely have your homework done each day, they’d probably have something to say about it, wouldn’t they?”  
Blaine grimaced. His parents weren’t known for being lackadaisical about school. He still remembered the spanking he got in third grade when his teacher wrote a note home that he hadn’t handed in his homework several days in a row. “Are you going to tell on me?”  
“No. Well, not now. I guess I should reserve the right to say something to them if I thought it was the only way to get through to you. But if you’d prefer not to have them leveling consequences, then we’re going to have to figure something else out. You’ve implied that you like the idea of me keeping you accountable, but I’m not really doing that if we have no plan for what happens when you’re not meeting expectation.”  
Blaine swallowed. “Well it’s not like you can… ground me or anything.”  
Kurt looked at Blaine funny and then put on a sterner face. “I told you I’ll always give you what you need. And I think you need to write me a little essay on responsibility and why doing your best work matters. 500 words. Typed and double-spaced. I look forward to reading it tomorrow morning.”  
Blaine’s jaw dropped. “You’re giving me more homework?”  
“Yes,” Kurt said simply.  
Blaine didn’t know what to say. Half of him wondered if Kurt was really serious, but somehow he was nervous to ask now. It felt silly to write an essay for his boyfriend. He couldn’t really make him do it anyway. It’s not like he was a teacher who could give a punishment like that and then send you to detention if you didn’t take it seriously. What would he even do? But if Kurt really wanted him to do it, he didn’t like the idea of letting him down on something. And, while he wasn’t thrilled to admit it, it was kind of true that he’d gotten a little sloppy in the staying on top of homework category lately. Maybe he sort of deserved this. He fidgeted, unsure what he should do.


	5. Chapter 5

By study hall, Blaine was feeling more chagrined with himself, as he got back an English test he’d assumed he’d aced and had only actually got an 83 on, and his Physics teacher had handed back the previous few homework assignments with a sea of red ink on them, having had points deducted for multiple careless errors throughout.   
When he got there he slumped in his seat next to Mike Chang in the back of the room, pulled out the papers again and sighed.   
“Bad day?” Mike asked, seeing Blaine’s dour look.  
“I’ve just had better. Not super happy with some grades I got back today.”  
Mike made a sympathetic face. “I get it. AP Chemistry is kicking my ass right now.” He lowered his voice. “I got an Asian F and my dad’s all over me about it.”  
Blaine squinted. “An Asian F?”  
“An A-,” Mike explained. “But I got a tutor to help. I can’t let my grades slide. I haven’t even told my dad I’m doing the play yet. He wants me to quit Glee Club already because he doesn’t think it will help me get into a good college,” he confided, unhappily returning his attention to his homework.  
Blaine discreetly put his English test back in his bag. Suddenly an 83 didn’t even seem respectable. He rubbed at his temples. He might be half-Asian, but his family wouldn’t exactly be like Mike’s and flip out over an A-. But they did make a big point about always doing your best work, and not making excuses. English was one of his best subjects. Maybe an 83 would be my best on a Latin test or in math—not this class. And I definitely would have done better on those Physics worksheets if I hadn’t kept putting them off to the last minute and throwing together answers in the ride into school the day of. Blaine marveled at Mike, diligently making flash cards for his next Chemistry test. Obviously Mike’s parents were pretty influential in how seriously he took his schoolwork, but Blaine did admire his discipline. He’s probably one of the smartest guys I know. He’s got to be taking 4 or 5 AP classes this year, and he’s got a girlfriend and a bunch of extracurricular activities demanding his attention, but he never makes excuses. He’s never even late for rehearsal or Glee Club. And here he’s just decided he needs to do better at something, taking ownership and fixing it.   
He thought about what Kurt had said this morning. He certainly didn’t enjoy the thought of Kurt devising more homework for him—or being compelled to put up with any other kind of punishment he might dream up. But then who likes getting punished for anything? And if I knew there was a chance it’d end up getting me more homework in the future I guess I probably would think twice about blowing off the homework I already have. Blaine was always saying he’d do anything for Kurt; this felt almost like a test now. It felt silly, yet he felt a strong pull to comply the more he thought about it. I told him to stay on me about my schoolwork. Can’t really fault him for following through on that.  
He remembered that one time in third grade when his teacher sent that note home. “You may not like being punished,” his father had said as he made short work of Blaine’s pants and lifted him over his knee, “but I bet you’ll remember this next time you want to shirk your responsibilities, young man.” He was teary for some time after, and he remembered his brother made fun of him about it. But his dad had sternly reminded his brother with a swat that he’d been in similar trouble before himself and that shut him up. Everyone screws up and has to deal with a little discipline sometimes I guess. Blaine had to admit that in that particular case anyway, the punishment had been pretty effective. He almost never risked missing homework after that. Except maybe a little in eighth grade when I was super depressed.   
He sighed, frustrated with himself. I need to be on my game. I’ve been acting like just because this isn’t Dalton and I’m busy with the play and Glee I can slack off on school more now. Kurt’s right. I shouldn’t be just finishing my work every day in the car, and I wouldn’t be if I was taking it more seriously. He pulled his Physics textbook out of his bag and opened it up to the newest chapter. He mentally reviewed the homework he had to do today. If he finished the Physics work now, he could probably get through at least half his math homework before study hall was over, he reasoned. Then he’d only have a chapter of reading to do for English class tomorrow. Well that and the essay for Kurt. Even if it felt weird to write, he decided he didn’t want to have to face Kurt and say he hadn’t done it. Hopefully Kurt would feel that his point was made and this would be the end of “punishments.”   
Blaine sighed, wishing his work would do itself. But then he looked up at the clock and started reading, not wanting to waste another moment.


	6. Chapter 6

Blaine got home about 6, tired from a pretty intense rehearsal. He’d dutifully used every little break and most of the ride home to do his reading, so he only had a few pages and half a sheet of math problems left. Kurt smiled at him when they got in his driveway. Usually Blaine was chatty on the drive home and Kurt knew he was trying to show responsibility this afternoon.   
“Love you,” he said, giving his boyfriend a kiss.  
“Love you too. I’ll call you when I’m ready for skincare time tonight. Still have some work left.”  
Kurt nodded. “Don’t forget the essay.”  
Blaine looked at Kurt. He spoke quietly. “I hope this doesn’t sound rude, but…. Were you really being serious about that?”  
Kurt put a hand on Blaine. “I’m always serious about you.”  
Blaine nodded, accepting this, kissed Kurt again and then headed into his house. Kurt watched him until the door closed behind. This was promising. He had hoped that he was doing the right thing by pressing Blaine on this. He also hoped he really was going to write him an essay, because he hadn’t actually thought through yet what he’d do if he didn’t. But he was definitely going to keep that to himself right now.

* * * *

“How’s the play going?” Blaine’s father asked him over dinner.  
“It’s good, we’ve almost got the whole thing staged now.”  
His father nodded vaguely, not particularly familiar enough with the theatre to really know what that meant.  
“How are your classes going?” his mom asked. “Are you keeping up with your work? You have a lot on your plate these days, and it seems like you’re out with Kurt every other--”   
“Don’t worry Mom,” Blaine cut her off, shaking his head. “I’ve got it under control. After Dalton, I can do anything.”  
His mom nodded, satisfied for now, as she didn’t have any evidence to the contrary. But Blaine knew why she was asking. She had a sixth sense about things like this, and limiting time with Kurt was sure to be first on the list of punishments she’d be dealing out if she thought he was getting lazy about school.  
Maybe it’d be better if I had to get some “discipline” from Kurt sometimes, than risking things getting to a point where they notice and deal with getting punished at home.   
Later that evening, after he’d finished his other homework, Blaine took out a blank sheet of paper and tried to seriously consider what to write.

* * * *

 

Dear Kurt,

I think it’s fair to say that by most people’s accounts, I’m a pretty good kid. I try to stay under the radar at school. I’m sure I’d be in hot water at home if I ever got a detention or something, and I’m not really gutsy enough to mess with teachers anyway. So when I heard you tell me I had to write this essay, I was kind of… offended? I guess my first instinct was that maybe someone like Puck might need to better themselves but not me. I guess that’s kind of judgmental, which is maybe something I should work on. I don’t want to be a person who’s quicker to notice other people’s flaws than my own.   
I’m a pretty ambitious person. I work hard at performing and school, sometimes harder than other kids. I think it’s because I’ve seen that hard work pays off in the long run. Maybe some people haven’t really had that experience before. When I was a real little kid, I remember I used to misspell “Anderson” all the time, and my mom told me that if you can spell your whole name really neatly you can fill out the form to get your own library card. I don’t know why that sounded so exciting to me as a kid, but I remember spending a whole weekend copying my name, and then when she finally took me to the library you would have thought I was going to get an ice cream sundae or something. And when I was about that age I got it into my head I wanted to learn about the violin so my parents let me take lessons. I remember the novelty of practicing wore off for a little bit but my dad said it was important to keep trying even if it got a little boring sometimes. I don’t know if they thought I’d play the violin forever, but they didn’t want me to just give up on a commitment right away, even then. Over time, I got better, and the more songs I could play, the more I wanted to learn more. I don’t think I would have gotten Tony or all those solos with the Warblers, if I hadn’t had that kind of practice at working hard at things when I was younger.   
Lately I haven’t been working as hard at school as I could. I have some classes that aren’t as interesting to me as others, and if I’m honest I think I told myself I didn’t have to put as much effort in at public school as I did when I was at Dalton. I know I could be doing better than this, at least in some classes. I’m going to be mad at myself if I only get okay grades this semester, and kind of embarrassed if they slip enough that my parents decide to get involved about it after I begged them to let me come to this school in the first place. I look at what I’ve been doing and I can see how easy it would be to just continue as I have been and slowly let things go more, and that if I’m not careful my grades could definitely move from pretty good to just okay to not really okay at all.   
Maybe it helps to have someone on the outside, who can be objective about telling the difference between when I’m putting too much pressure on myself and when I really am capable of doing better but am just being lazy. Someone to push me out of my apathy and be firm if I’m missing the mark.   
I don’t know if it sounds weird, but having to write this essay has been sort of a thought-provoking experience. I have to write it, as a punishment. Well I guess I technically could have not written it—it’s not like there’s any gun to my head beyond wondering how you’d react if I refuse. There certainly are other hobbies and things I would have been more interested in doing tonight—but knowing it was a punishment sort of made me actually want to do it somehow. I like the idea of doing something that absolves my sins in a way—something about penance makes my burdens lighter after. I guess what I’m realizing is, while I don’t think anyone likes being disciplined in any way, maybe sometimes I could use that, and maybe it would help me stay on track more. I know I got in the habit of doing my homework regularly because when I was little I knew my parents would give me a spanking if they got any phone calls from my teacher about anything. But I shouldn’t just aim to hand something in, I should be handing in work that’s of a quality I’m proud of, or why bother? I certainly know if I’m having trouble getting my homework done on time the last thing I really want is more of it. So I may regret saying this, but maybe I did deserve extra homework after not really keeping up with the work I had—at least not as well as I should have. You told me today you take everything about me seriously, and I guess what I’m trying to say is, I trust you to know me and what I need, and I’ll always at least try to listen to your insights about me because of that. It might be odd or unusual, but you asked me to do this, to help me learn a lesson, and I want you to know I really thought about it so I could get the most from it. You make my life better in so many ways, and you deserve my best from me. I hope that this meets your expectations.

Love,

Blaine


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning Blaine drove, and dutifully handed over his essay to Kurt when he got in the car. Blaine looked ahead as he drove, but stole glances here and there as Kurt read it without comment. He had a bit of a feeling of being on trial, wondering what Kurt was thinking and what he would say.  
Finally, at Blaine pulled up to the intersection at White Street a few blocks from McKinley, Kurt laid the essay in his lap. Blaine couldn’t take the silence and finally screwed up the nerve to break it himself.  
“Is that what you were looking for?” he ventured.  
“Yes,” Kurt replied in a measured tone. “I can tell you put some thought into it.”  
“I tried to do what you asked.”  
“Do you think you’ll remember this next time you’re tempted to do less than your best?” Kurt asked, honestly curious.  
Blaine paused and considered this. “Well, I guess it’s kind of… embarrassing to be called out for slacking and I think remembering that feeling will push me a little harder. And the last thing I’d like if I’m feeling like putting off homework is more work on my plate-- so wondering if you’d punish me again certainly… has my attention.”  
Kurt nodded. “It’s… clarifying?” he offered.  
“…Kinda.”  
“Good.”  
Blaine chewed on his lip. “So you… um… are you going to--“ he stuttered, suddenly feeling awkward. “Like I’m just wondering if-- was this a—one-time thing?”  
“Hmm.” Kurt grunted. “Well I suppose that depends.”  
“Depends on what?”  
“On whether you decide to neglect your responsibilities again.”  
Blaine flushed.   
“Oh.”  
A horn honked behind him, startling Blaine back into paying attention to driving. Something had shifted between them. There was a new understanding. No one else would need to know, but they would know.   
Kurt studied Blaine, empathetic that this was somewhat difficult for him. “It was sort of brave of you.”  
“Brave?”  
“Telling me what you need. In what you wrote, I mean.”  
Blaine’s eyes shifted to Kurt and then back to the road and shrugged.  
“I don’t know that I’d… enjoy this being a regular thing, exactly…” he stammered.  
Kurt nodded. “Right. It’s not—about enjoying it.”  
“I didn’t know whether to take you seriously when you told me I had to write something.”  
“I think maybe you want someone to… make you take them seriously sometimes. Am I reading what you wrote correctly?” Kurt pressed.  
Blaine felt like there were butterflies in his stomach. “Y-yeah….” he muttered.  
“I told you. I’ll do—and be—whatever you need. You don’t have to be embarrassed about it or anything.”  
Blaine nodded, wearing his discomfort on his sleeve.  
Kurt reached over and put his hand over Blaine’s on the gear shift. Blaine relaxed at the warm touch. God I love him so much.  
“So I guess my days of rushing through my Physics in your car the morning its due are over?” Blaine said, trying to make things feel lighter.   
Kurt nodded. “At least not as a matter of habit. But I’m not going to expect you to be perfect. I’ll just be there to remind you sometimes—keep you accountable. This is just to help you be your best. And if you stop wanting me to—I’ll back off, you’d just have to say the word.”  
“It was a fair punishment.” Blaine conceded.  
“Yes, I thought so. And if something came up again and it didn’t seem like that was enough, or there’s something else, then I’ll figure out something more persuasive.””  
Blaine’s eyebrows arched at that. “More? Like I’ll have to serve a detention for you or something?”  
Kurt shrugged. “Maybe. I could make you write lines,” he said, thoughtful.  
“Lines?”  
“You know, like ‘I will not waste my study hall time daydreaming about Glee Club stardom.”  
Blaine chuckled. “I had a teacher in second grade always made kids do that.”  
“Yeah I’m surprised Dalton never made you write them about all the furniture you were always jumping on.”  
Blaine made a face, feeling silly now. “Well I tried to keep that just among us Warblers and the Council was pretty good at keeping the faculty a bay for rehearsals anyway.”  
“Yeah, Dalton was super strict in certain ways and then completely hands-off in others. Definitely took awhile to get used to the culture shift. I guess it’s probably the same now for you, getting used to the lay of the land at McKinley.”  
“Sometimes.”  
“I think this will help you. It’s another way I can take care of you.”  
“Heh. Only you could make this sound romantic and not… sort of embarrassing.”  
“Everyone needs help being accountable sometimes. How do you think my dad would have stayed on his diet after his heart attack if he didn’t have me and Carole around to yell at him?”  
“Ah so you have experience with scolding.”  
“Oh yes. So don’t test me, mister.”  
Blaine smiled. “Oh yes sir. I won’t.”


	8. Chapter 8

Got those IDs for ya. ;) I can stop by Breadstix after my Lacrosse game to drop them off.  
Blaine got the text as his mom was lecturing him again about not leaving his laundry in the washer too long before moving it over to the dryer. He glanced at Sebastian’s text and then hurriedly clicked his phone off.  
“Are you listening to me?” his mother scolded.  
“Yes Mom—“ Blaine assured.  
“Well I’d appreciate it if you not be checking your text messages while I’m talking to you young man.”  
Blaine grimaced at the chastisement while rushing to deposit his cell phone into his back pocket. No way did he want to risk his mother taking his phone and seeing that message. She’d start asking questions.  
“I didn’t. I’m not. I was—turning it off, see?” Blaine said, putting on his most innocent face.  
His mother looked him up and down, unconvinced, but too tired to argue the point further. She pronounced her sentence. “Move your laundry, and then you can add the load I left on top of the washer,” she commanded.  
“Yes Mom,” Blaine mumbled, thinking to himself that if it was that important to her she very well could have moved the laundry herself in all the time it had taken for her to come upstairs and yell at him about this. It’s not like I wasn’t going to get to it eventually… after I finished reviewing my lines and practicing the new steps for Sectionals and--  
“You got an issue, Blaine?” his mom asked, stern. “You’re making a face.”  
“What? No—it’s just my regular face!” Blaine defended hastily.  
“Uh huh.”   
“Taking care of it right now—“ Blaine said holding his hands up and hurrying towards the basement. Jeez.   
In fairness, Blaine knew how his mother could get about the laundry and she really hadn’t hassled him much about anything else recently. It had been a couple weeks since Kurt had made Blaine write an essay about keeping up with homework better, and he’d been mostly working so hard with school, Glee, and West Side Story that he’d barely even been home long enough to get into trouble about anything. And if Kurt and I are really going to go to Scandals I need to make sure I’m in their good graces and that there’s no way they’re going anywhere near that direction tomorrow night. Moving his laundry into the dryer, he couldn’t help marvel that Kurt had actually said yes to that. He had wondered what Scandals was like since he’d found out it was a gay bar, but he’d always been too nervous to try to check it out on his own and figured his parents would basically kill him if they caught him going to a bar anyway. Smiling, he thought about what he should wear. I should try to look sharp. It’s not like he was going there to pick anybody up, of course. But he didn’t want to stand out as just a dumb high school kid.   
Remembering the text, he took his phone back out of the pocket.  
Sure. Around 4:00?  
He then deleted the original message, paranoid about it being found somehow. I can’t believe we’re really going to a bar tomorrow night. Kurt always surprises me. Blaine turned on the washer and the dryer and was just about to go upstairs when Sebastian texted back.  
Sounds good. What’s your alcoholic beverage of choice? I’ll buy the first round.  
Well that text is definitely getting deleted too. Blaine was a little nervous for some reason. After all, Sebastian had lived in Paris and was just so worldly. His favorite drink was probably some fancy thing Blaine had never heard of. He could try to play like he knew what drink was hot but in all honesty the few occasions he’d had to experiment had some limited options. He’d tried some stuff from Rachel’s dads’ liquor cabinet at her party last year, but he honestly didn’t even remember what he’d had. And judging from the killer hangover he had the next day he wasn’t going to be risking that again if he could help it. But if I’m going to a bar I’ve gotta drink, right? Just a beer, maybe two. Then he thought of Kurt.  
I’m not so fancy usually. Just whatever beer is on tap is good for me. But Kurt’s my designated driver.  
Oh really? How chivalrous.  
Blaine wasn’t entirely sure how to read Sebastian. It certainly was generous of him to help them get into the bar tomorrow and offer to buy drinks though. He’s harmless.  
Heh. Well I’m really just down the street a few blocks but he doesn’t really drink much at all, so I guess it’s lucky for me.  
Blaine was thankfully back up in his room when he got the reply.  
Nah he’s the lucky one with you on his arm. See ya tomorrow killer. ;)  
Blaine rolled his eyes. He was sure Sebastian was harmless but he sure was forward sometimes. But compliments were nice. He enjoyed the idea of other people seeing him with his boyfriend, thinking he was lucky to be with him. Blaine wondered if Kurt felt lucky. He remembered past times where he had a crush and thought of someone being in a relationship and feeling jealous. Six months ago he’d never even had a boyfriend before. Now they were going to go to a real gay bar together. One of these days they were going to go all the way. He could feel it. Maybe not this week, exactly. But who knows? Maybe Kurt will get swept up in the spirit of Scandals and one thing will lead to another and… Blaine blushed in spite of himself. It was totally not going to happen that way, but it was a fun little fantasy. And suddenly it seemed like tomorrow was going to take forever to get here. This is going to be great.


	9. Chapter 9

Holy buzzkill. Ugh.  
Blaine’s head was woozy and he could still feel his heart pounding. The air was damp, and rain drizzled hear and there against his brow as he walked home. His face felt hot with embarrassment and all he wanted was to get home as soon as possible and crawl under his warm covers. Pretend the last fifteen minutes never happened.  
His feet sloshed in the puddles along the sidewalk. Ahead, he could see his driveway. Kurt had driven his car and was getting into his own now. He thought of running up, saying something. Stop. I’m sorry. I’m a jerk… something.  
If he didn’t like me dancing with Sebastian he could have said something. It’s not like it meant anything. We’re just friends. And if he’s so jealous of me paying attention to him you’d think he’d be thrilled I want to mess around in the backseat of the car.  
Had he been reading him wrong? They had had an understanding for a long while now. They would kiss and make out up to a certain point, but Kurt wasn’t ready for more, and Blaine wasn’t totally sure he was either. And besides, Blaine had insisted, if Kurt wasn’t ready that was that. It wouldn’t be sexy to make his boyfriend uncomfortable. Consent mattered. And all the pamphlets and websites he’d read all said that the best sex happened when everybody was comfortable and communicating. For a long time Kurt barely could say the word sex without turning red so Blaine didn’t go into their relationship thinking they’d be having sex right away. Blaine liked to think he was being honorable, and that it was cool to say that, whatever they’d do, they’d do when they both were ready. It had seemed like Kurt had been more ready lately, is all. Or maybe I’ve just been more horny. What’s wrong with me? He’d loved the moment when Kurt had cut in and started dancing with him—it felt like they were older, like in college already, dancing in some club in New York like they’d imagined they’d do. His body had felt hot, alive and his head had been swimming with joy.   
“I’ve never felt less like being intimate with someone,” Kurt had told him. God. That’s basically the worst thing a person could say. Blaine kicked at a stone, then watched Kurt in the distance, driving away. We’ll talk tomorrow. We just need to blow off some steam and it’ll be okay. Blaine wished he had a punching bag to beat on. Or a Fight Club night where he could let all this energy out and maybe let the other guy win a bit, get a little sore and feel better. The longer he walked, the more Blaine didn’t know what he would say tomorrow when he saw Kurt. It was hard to admit that Kurt was right. I just wanted to be spontaneous and fun. Sebastian had made him feel like he was immature, saying he was acting like a bashful schoolboy. We’re not little kids. We’re in a relationship. Isn’t this what boyfriends are supposed to want? Kurt’s the one talking about “getting dirty” and sharing his Tyler Lautner fantasies lately. He’d thought he was doing what Kurt had wanted. Or kinda wanted… Maybe would have wanted if he just got more comfortable…. Blaine grimaced. He knew Kurt had tried to stop him a couple times, he just wanted it so bad. Do you have any idea how much I think about sex sometimes? How hot you are? How much I just want to… deserve you?  
Blaine padded home, sobered up at this point, but grateful that his parents weren’t waiting with a stopwatch in the living room like sometimes. His mom called out from her room when he passed—  
“Hey Blaine.”  
“Hi Mom,” he said in a bit of a rush to his bedroom door.  
“How was the documentary?”  
Blaine froze for a moment, confused and then remembered his cover story. He’d said he was watching something for extra credit with Kurt at Rachel’s house with school at his house. “…Eh. Pretty boring,” he muttered.  
“Well, hopefully it’s good for your grade at least.” His father’s voice called.  
“Yeah. Night mom, night dad…” Blaine wasn’t in the mood to talk and knew enough about how bad a liar he was to not extended the conversation further anyway. Blaine quickly went into his room and closed the door leaning against it. He felt kind of guilty about lying to his parents. And pushing Kurt past his comfort zone sexually when he had been so good so far about taking things slow. Sometimes I kind of hate myself.


	10. Chapter 10

“I’ve wanted to do this for so long…” Kurt confessed, mouthing at Blaine’s collarbone as he felt Blaine taking down his vest.  
Blaine nodded, unable to find his voice suddenly. His hand shakily dropped the vest to the floor and he hesitatingly rested his hand on his boyfriend’s hip. Kurt’s mouth found his way to his and he kissed him, hard, squeezing his body against him as he did so. His tongue teased against his for a second and Blaine shuddered back a moment, overcome.  
“You okay?” Kurt whispered.  
“So okay.” Blaine assured. “Just… wow.”  
Kurt nodded. “You nervous?”  
“Yes.” Blaine replied instantly.  
Kurt smiled. “Me too.”  
Blaine smiled slowly, his eyes drinking in Kurt’s. “I like being nervous with you,” he whispered.  
Kurt lifted a hand, tracing a gentle line along Blaine’s face. “Can I… um… can I take this off?”  
Blaine was so taken with the feel of his touch, his brain seemed to be moving slower than usual. He blinked, distracted. “Hmm?”  
Kurt laid a hand on Blaine’s shoulder and patted it. “Your shirt.”  
Blaine’s throat was dry. “I. …Yeah. Of—of course.”  
Kurt’s hands slid down Blaine’s arms, achingly slowly. Blaine’s breath hitched, feeling him pull against the fabric and then tugging up. He lifted his hands above his head, gasping at the sensation of the shirt coming off. He still had an undershirt on underneath—it had been cold lately. As soon as the shirt was tossed on the floor, his mouth found his way back to Kurt’s and he hummed into the kiss. His finger nervously danced along the edge of Kurt’s pants.   
“Should we… um… lie down?” the words felt distant, like someone else was saying them.  
“Yes.” Kurt breathed, and suddenly they were crawling, backing their way onto the bed, unable to keep their mouths off each other until at last they were both against a pillow looking at each other. Time stood still for a moment, and they just looked at each other. We have all the time in the world.  
Blaine could not tear his eyes from Kurt. Suddenly it was as though something had clicked and everything was exactly as it was supposed to be. “I’m so glad this is happening—this way, I mean,” he confided.  
“Here?” Kurt asked.  
“Well yes, like—not in my car. Not… rushed or anything.” Blaine’s face felt warm, remembering how sure he’d been the other night that all that mattered was that they do it.  
Kurt smiled. “I made you wait a long time,” he commented, almost apologetic.  
“I wasn’t ready. Not really. It’s better now. Maybe it would have been—fun? Back when we first got together, I mean. But now. It means more.” Blaine was having a hard time putting together articulate sentences, but Kurt understood.  
“I knew I wanted you to be my first. For a long time I knew. I just wanted it to be right.”  
“Tonight’s right?”  
“Tonight’s perfect.”  
“I really am sorry about the other night—“ Blaine blurted.  
“Shhh. Lay back. Close your eyes.” Kurt gently but firmly dismissed him.  
Blaine blinked, feeling Kurt take control of the situation. It felt—relaxing, like a burden was lifted from him. He chewed his lip a second and then rolled on his back, his eyes obediently fluttering shut. Kurt ran a finger along the seam of his boyfriend’s tank top, and began lazily stroking his chest.   
“No more apologies,” Kurt admonished. “No thinking about yesterday, or tomorrow even. Just be here with me. Now.”  
“I like that,” Blaine breathed, keening at the light tickle of Kurt’s nimble fingers as they wandered over his nipples now. “It’s hot.”  
Kurt grinned. “You’re hot. I love your chest. This summer I thought I was going to melt every time I saw you in just a bathing suit.”  
Blaine’s eyes blinked open. “Really?”  
“Of course.”  
“If I’d realized, I would have taken my shirt off more often,” Blaine teased.  
“Hmm. It didn’t occur to me to make requests.”  
Blaine smiled leaning up on his elbow to look fondly at Kurt. “I love that you see me that way. I’d… take off… whatever you wanted.”  
Kurt smiled back, in spite of himself. His eyes wandered down Blaine’s chest and his finger only betrayed a little nervousness as it played with the fabric at the end of his boyfriend’s undershirt.   
“Well. You can start… with this.”


	11. Chapter 11

Blaine was flying high now. Between getting praise for his West Side Story performance all around and the new step he’d taken in his relationship with Kurt, he was in what felt like the best spirits he’d been in in ages. He just felt so much more relaxed, and positive. Maybe Finn was still hassling him half the time in Glee, but he’d come around eventually, right? Algebra II and Physics were still his least favorite parts of the school day, but he was finding they went faster now that his mind had explicit memories to dwell on whenever he got bored. Maybe it was silly, but now that he was having sex he felt more grown up and even more clarity that his relationship was now the most important thing. Who cared what little issues came up at school or anywhere else when he had Kurt? He found he lived for the ride to and from school now, even if nothing more intimate than holding hands happened there. Kurt was still pretty private about too much PDA and Blaine remained nervous about attracting unwanted attention from bullies anyway, but it somehow made the little intimacies they shared outside of school seem even more special. Kurt was always wanting to sing in the car, ostensibly to keep their voices primed for Glee purposes--and they seemed to be in a contest now for finding the most romantic songs for that time together. We’re so in love.  
“Those two are seriously annoying sometimes” Santana had muttered in Blaine’s earshot on the way to Glee one day. Blaine stopped in his tracks, vaguely hurt, but a glance back at his boyfriend reminded him. She’s just jealous.   
Whenever some comment like that threatened to bring him down at all, or if Finn was getting on his nerves, he’d look back at the messages he’d gotten online after West Side Story. His Warbler buddies had left multiple words of praise on his Facebook wall after seeing the show, and re-reading them always made him smile. It did make him feel a little pang inside though. He was sure coming to McKinley was the right decision--- nothing could possibly make him happier than seeing Kurt every day. But man, he did miss his Warbler pals sometimes. Daydreaming in the middle of a Physics lecture one day, he thought about the graduation party Wes had last summer, Fight Club, and all the get-togethers they’d held after competitions. He wasn’t sure McKinley was ever going to feel quite the same for him. Nick had texted him a couple times to get together and he’d begged off, thinking Sebastian might be there and knowing how Kurt could get about hearing that he’d run into Sebastian. He didn’t have feelings for Sebastian, but he knew that he could make Kurt jealous, and it seemed like keeping his distance was probably a good move. Nothing’s more important than Kurt. Luckily, Nick’s birthday was coming up, and both Kurt and Blaine had been invited. If Sebastian’s there I’ll just be polite and not dance with him or anything so Kurt’s comfortable. He remembered how some of his friends who were couples made out at Wes’ party this summer. His face flushed thinking of it. He didn’t really think Kurt would want to do that, but it was sort of a nice thought. Hot to think that they could, if they wanted to. But definitely we can leave a little bit early and mess around in the car before my curfew…   
Blaine’s mind wandered back, as it so often did these days, to that perfect night they’d had their first time. How nervous he’d been to be naked with him for the first time. How amazing Kurt looked, and how much more confident his boyfriend had been about the whole thing than he’d expected. He just knew it was right and everything just fell into place. They’d been less nervous every time since, but it was all so new that it still seemed like each time they were embarking on some new uncharted territory. Sometimes it seemed like all he could think about was sex, but it was different now, because whenever his mind wandered into fantasy he knew, if he wanted, he could make that happen with Kurt now.   
“Any questions about the homework?’ Blaine’s physics teacher asked, seeming to be rather annoyed with the class at the moment and casting a disparaging glance towards Blaine in particular. Blaine shook himself from his daydream, wondering how much he’d missed and embarrassedly trying to look studious by writing in his notebook as though he were taking notes. It’s just hard to get into Physics when there’s so many other much more fun things to think about these days. He glanced over at Rachel across the room. I’ll just have to get notes from her later…


	12. Chapter 12

Later that day, Blaine and Kurt were in the choir room when Rachel came in.  
“Oh, hey Rachel, can I look over your Physics notes, I didn’t get to write down the assignment—“  
Rachel smirked. “He explained it like three times,” she teased.  
Blaine flushed. “I… just didn’t get—all the details.”  
Kurt looked at the exchange quizzically.   
Rachel grinned. “Of course! I’m just teasing. You were totally staring out the window today though—yesterday too! You gotta work on being less obvious, I thought he might eat you alive. He’s so friggin’ boring though, I don’t blame you! That class is the worst.” She handed over her notebook, which Blaine gratefully took. He pulled out his and started copying. Kurt glanced over at what he was writing, but said nothing.  
“Heh, you haven’t been in Algebra II with Ms. Kilpatrick,” muttered Blaine.  
“Oh you have her? I had that class last year, she’’s awful too!” Rachel exclaimed.  
“I have them back to back, it’s pretty torturous some mornings.”  
Rachel nodded. “Well you’re welcome to use my notes for Physics anytime. Hey Mr. Schue!” Rachel yelled suddenly, bolting away as she saw their Glee Club advisor at the door. “I need to talk to you some more about my thoughts about Sectionals…”  
Blaine hurriedly copied down as much of the notes as he could before Mr. Schue extracated himself from Rachel and started Glee. Rachel let him take a quick photo of the ones he hadn’t gotten to at the end of the session so he could copy them down later. The assignment was confusing though.   
“Okay if I call you later, Rach?—I’m probably gonna need help figuring that homework out later—“ he bashfully admitted, gratefully handing back her notes.  
Rachel shrugged. “Sure. Can’t promise I’ll know that much better than you though!” She waved the boys goodbye and they got into the car.  
Kurt cleared his throat once they were alone in the car together. “Having trouble in physics?” he asked neutrally.  
Blaine froze a moment. “Uh, I wouldn’t call it trouble,” he deflected.  
“Rachel said you were daydreaming.”  
“I might have been… thinking of us a little today.”  
“Us?”  
“You know.,” Blaine’s face warmed a bit. “Us. Messing around?” Blaine’s eyes twinkled and he leaned in to kiss his boyfriend.  
“During class?!” Kurt asked, holding Blaine back by the shoulder.  
Blaine’s face fell a bit. “I—yeah, I guess? Probably missed some details in math today too.” He meant it as a joke—even if it was kinda true. But Kurt wasn’t laughing and he didn’t know what to make of that. So he tried putting on a face of mock indignation. “What, you can’t tell me you’re not… distracted… these days?” he asked, lowering his voice conspiratorially. “Thinking of what we’ve done together, what we could do again, what we should try next…”  
Kurt smiled. “You always distract me,” he assured fondly, brushing the back of his hand against Blaine’s cheek. “But I try to keep it to out of classtime if I can help it,” he added, screwing his face into something closer to stern. “And it seems to me were supposed to be doing your best in those classes. If even Rachel noticed, it likely wasn’t a momentary thing.”  
Blaine rolled his eyes. “I doubt I was the only one tuning out a little.”  
Kurt gave Blaine a look. “Blaine Anderson—“ he warned.  
Blaine chuckled. “Woah my last name too? You really are starting to sound like my Dad or something now.”  
Kurt ignored that and pressed on. “You have to do better or you’re going to get yourself in trouble with the teacher.”  
“Maybe. But think of the benefits. Maybe I get some of my best ideas of stuff we can do later!” Blaine teased.  
Kurt grunted. “If you get a detention you know your parents will—“  
“What? No one’s getting a detention, you’re being--  
“And if you weren’t even paying attention to the homework when she explained it, I’m betting you may not do super well on it.” Kurt folded his arms for emphasis.  
Blaine pouted, nonplussed that Kurt was making a deal of this. “I got the notes from Rachel. And I already arranged to talk to her about it tonight if I run into trouble. I’ll… figure it out.”  
Kurt nodded. “I imagine you will. I’m just saying, don’t make a habit of this.”  
Blaine fidgeted, feeling scolded now. “I thought if anything you’d think it was…. sweet or something,” he muttered.   
“Sure. I love that you… think of me.” Kurt said, blushing in spite of himself. “But look, you told me to stay on you about these classes—“  
“I know. God!” Blaine interrupted, a little too sharply. He knew he couldn’t fault Kurt for doing what he asked, but it was still a little annoying to actually have him do it.  
Kurt stared at Blaine without speaking for a moment. Blaine felt uneasy at the silence.   
“I’m—sorry, I know you’re just doing what I asked you to do, and--“  
“If you don’t want me to do this then you need to say so, young man.” Kurt’s voice was cold, firmer now.  
Blaine shrunk a bit. “I—um. N-no of course I want you to—um….” He faltered at the words, rubbing at his neck.  
“Keep you accountable?” Kurt supplied.  
Blaine bit his lip, then nodded. “Y-yes. I—I’m sorry. I could have been more… respectful there.”  
Kurt shrugged. “This only works if you can show respect for my feedback.”  
Blaine looked down, embarrassed. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”   
“I was going to let you off with a warning over this daydreaming in class business. First offense and all. But if you struggle to take responsibility for something like this then it makes me think that punishment is more appropriate. At least going forward.”  
Blaine squirmed. Kurt wasn’t yelling or anything, but he did seem serious.  
“More essays?” he asked meekly.  
“Maybe. If it seems like that’s what you need. Or if you’re spending all your time fantasizing in class maybe our date nights will have to be more G-rated until you can use your time more appropriately.”  
Blaine’s eyes widened. “Kurt!”  
“So I take it that particular punishment might be more likely to get your attention?”  
“Are you for real here?”  
Kurt shrugged, smilling. “I can’t say I’d like that, either. If you need to be punished I’d prefer it not also be a punishment for me. But I won’t say I’d rule anything out. But we didn’t talk about this before, so I think a warning will have to do this time.”  
Blaine relaxed a little. “Okay. If I’m not… meeting expectations I’ll have to accept whatever… discipline you come up with. But it won’t happen again,” he was quick to add.  
“See that it doesn’t. Now that I know Rachel’s in that class I can get her to let me know if you’re slipping. And I’ll find someone in your math class too if I need to.”  
Blaine nodded, a little embarrassed. “Yes sir. I understand sir,” he said quietly. He knew Kurt would be discreet, but still. The possibility that he might check in with someone else in his class gave him pause. Truth be told, his track record on paying attention in math was probably getting worse than his one in physics. Probably don’t want to hear what Kurt would say to that.  
Kurt nodded, satisfied. They didn’t talk about Blaine suddenly calling him “sir,”—has he ever done that before? But it felt right, respectful. It would seem weird in the normal course of their daily conversations, Kurt reasoned, but for this, it seemed appropriate. “Then I think we can let this go for today. But if I hear about it becoming a problem again, or if you have trouble with… your tone with me—well then I’d say you can expect to be disciplined… young man.”


	13. Chapter 13

If Blaine had any thoughts before about breezing through his homework that night he found it hard to justify them now. He went up to his bedroom and reluctantly started taking out his work, ignoring the urge to turn on the TV. His parents had been against him having a TV in his room when he was younger, but when he said he wanted to buy one himself, spending some of the money he’d saved up from working at the amusement park over the summer they’d relented after Blaine had made a well-prepared argument that may have overstated the expectations high school students today are held to with regard to keeping up on cable news reports. Mainly he’d been using it to binge watch Project Runway and other reality TV with Kurt. His parents’ main fear, he assumed, was that having it in his room would lead to him watching TV more of the time and neglecting his responsibilities. But they’d made it pretty clear that if they ever thought that was happening they’d have no problem taking it away for some un-named amount of time—arguments that he’d bought it with his own money notwithstanding. He grunted to himself, remembering how fruitless his argument over that had been when he first got it. Kurt’s dad would never hold something like that over his head. Maybe he’d get grounded from using the car or something, but his dad and stepmom own that car. Kurt and Finn don’t know how easy they have it sometimes. My parents are just forever going to be the strictest parents on the block.  
Blaine sighed. Well I guess I don’t have to worry about defending my television time tonight… way too much other work to do. And I’ve gotten the strictest boyfriend on the block to hassle me about it if I don’t, too! Thinking back now on what Kurt and Rachel had had to say about his infraction at school today, a small part of him felt a little ill-used—there are kids at McKinley that literally sleep through most of their classes. Has either of them met that kid Brett? But he knew that argument wouldn’t be holding any water. I said I was going to do my best here, and Kurt’s right. Fantasizing my way through third period wasn’t my best moment. He knew Kurt was pushing him on this for his own good—neither one of them was going to be happy if his grades slipped and his parents got involved. And Blaine hadn’t considered that a teacher might get annoyed enough with his inattention to give him detention. He’d gotten demerits here and there, but had only actually gotten a detention once at Dalton—when he’d gotten caught skipping school to help Kurt confront Karofsky. At Dalton you had to get a parent signature on your detention form, and his parents had definitely not been pleased with him that day. I should find out if they have the same system here… He didn’t really think he was in danger of getting sent to detention anytime soon, but the threat it held would be very different depending on whether or not his parents would have to find out about it. Either way there’d probably be no way to hide it from Kurt. Wonder how long an essay I’d have to write for him for that?  
Blaine slowly worked his way through as much of his Physics work as he could before giving up and giving Rachel a call. As he was about to dial the number, he saw a text from Nick.  
So you two comin Friday?  
Blaine smiled. He texted back. Oh right. Your party! Kurt wants to but has to negotiate with his dad to get out of family dinner night first. But I’ll definitely be there, and my folks said I can sleepover.  
Blaine leaned back on his bed. He expected most of his Warbler buddies would be at the party. It was nice having something to look forward to.  
Family dinner night? Sounds painful. Hope he can get out of it. Either way, I’ve got a couple scrappy new recruits coming that will be up for some FC shenanigans if you want that night too.  
Blaine blinked. He hadn’t thought of Fight Club in awhile. He wondered if one of the “recruits” was Sebastian. He chewed his lip a moment, and then texted back.  
Eh I think my days of that may be done, man. Too risky.  
Blaine felt butterflies in his stomach as he sent the text. He’d agreed several weeks ago to beg off any Fight Club invitations, but this was the first time he’d actually had to do it. He’d caught wind that Nick might have had a mini-brawl somewhere that night so many of the Warblers came to his show—but no one had even asked him that night because they’d figured he had McKinley afterparties to get to. It felt final, having to actually say no to it.  
What?! That’s not the Blaine Anderson I remember. That public school making you soft? ;-)  
Blaine smirked and texted back. Not in the least, thank you very much. You’ve met my parents. Now that I’ve got a boyfriend I prefer not to chance getting grounded for life if I can help it.   
Heh. Well that only happens if you get caught. But if you’re really retiring you know you’re always gonna be welcome to come watch and cheer us on. My money’s on the new kids though lol.  
Mine too. ;-) Blaine sighed. It was nice that he’d get to hang out with Nick and the gang, but he knew it wouldn’t be quite the same. McKinley’s my school now. It’s just going to be different, even when we do get to see each other. It’s worth it. He thought of that night the Warblers had gone to his show and how he’d laid with Kurt on this bed that same night. Being with Kurt like that beats a night out with the guys any day of the week.  
A slow grin coming to his face, he texted Kurt. Hey. Thinking of you. ;-) Nick says he hopes you can talk your dad out of the Friday night thing. Everybody’s gonna be at his party and want to see you again.  
Only a few moments later Kurt had replied. I thought you were supposed to be doing homework, Mister.  
Blaine chuckled. Always the taskmaster, I guess. He texted back. I am. Honest. And trying to save all my sordid fantasies for after it’s all done too!  
Admirable self control. Good boy.  
Blaine smiled. I honestly might need to start studying at the library though. My bedroom’s filled with pretty distracting memories now. He waited for Kurt’s response, running his hand against his comforter. How can I have just seen him at school today and still I miss him?  
Hmm. I can see how that could present a challenge. The other day you wore that shirt again and it kept making me think of our first time when I was supposed to be paying attention in Booty Camp.  
Blaine’s jaw dropped, thoroughly enjoying this new information. He texted his response at once. It did? Well now who’s the one irresponsibly distracted? My how the tables have turned. I have to wear that shirt more often. And the pants. I can’t believe he thinks of me the way I think of him sometimes.  
Yeah nice try, but Booty Camp isn’t exactly Physics or math. I think I’ll still graduate high school if I space out here and there. Besides, it’s stupid I have to go to it anyway.  
Blaine grinned. So Friday?  
We’ll see. At this point I don’t think my dad’s going to let me out of dinner, but he might let me go out after if I play my cards right. But he and Carole are being ridiculous lately, so we’ll see.  
This was news to Blaine. Kurt’s folks usually seemed super laid back to him—at least compared to his own. Something happen?  
Let’s just say there’s been a number of “family meetings” this week and it’s not even Tuesday yet.  
Ouch. That sucks.  
Yeah it’s annoying. Finn can be counted on to be in more hot water than I am roughly 90% of the time, but still. I can’t wait to be in New York and not have to hear about curfews or who was supposed to wash the dishes yesterday.  
Blaine felt a little pang at the mention of New York. Obviously Kurt was a senior and applying to NYADA was his big dream these days. But sometimes when Kurt brought it up it gave him pause. Would they still be together by then? They’d started talking about the things they’d like to do together when they were older—buying a lighthouse, going to Pride in New York every year… but he preferred to skip the part in his head where he was going to be still in Lima for a whole year before he could join Kurt. Was it crazy to expect that they’d still be together almost two years from now? Now that he was in a relationship he cherished the thought of breaking up kind of terrified him. I want this to last. His thoughts were disrupted by another text message from Kurt coming through.  
Enough texting. Your homework’s not going to do itself.  
Blaine made a face at his phone, pretending Kurt could see. But then he sighed. Well. He’s not wrong. He texted back.  
Yes sir. Calling Rachel to wrap up my physics work and just have a few math problems after that. Call me when you’re ready for moisturizing and I should be all done. Love you.  
Love you too.


	14. Chapter 14

Blaine tried his best to stay on task in class for the next few days. Whenever he felt his mind wander a little, he’d remind himself that Kurt had threatened to punish him somehow, and the thought nudged him back into paying attention. Mainly this was only an issue in physics and math. He didn’t have as much trouble in the classes he liked, or the one social studies class he had been able to share with Kurt, which, aside from Glee, was always the highlight of his day. Studying for social studies was now their go-to excuse for spending extra time together, so Blaine almost looked forward to announcements of tests in that class coming up.  
It was later that week when his parents had allowed just such a study date after school that Blaine got in a bit of trouble at home. His father found the fake ID Sebastian had gotten made for him for that night they’d gone to Scandals and pretty much hit the roof. He gave Blaine a good spanking for his indiscretions, which would have been bad enough in any normal circumstances—but the extra dose of embarrassment that came with Kurt being there proved intensely humbling. Blaine’s mother scolded him good when she found out later, and he expected she’d ground him as well. But when he timidly pointed out that getting punished in front of his boyfriend had been pretty extreme, she softened a bit, deciding that under the circumstances he’d been disciplined enough this time. Blaine hoped this might mean she’d veto any future public punishments his father might think up, but he wasn’t going to press his luck by asking too many questions. All that mattered for the moment was that he was still free to sleepover at Nick’s party.   
Blaine had a hop in his step all day on Friday, looking forward to catching up with his Warbler buddies.  
“I know I’m being ridiculous, but tell me again that you won’t be letting Sebastian rub up against you tonight or anything?” Kurt whispered in his ear between classes.  
Blaine smiled and rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry. I told you. You’re the only one I want rubbing up against me, ever.” He grinned, seeing Kurt’s face color at that. They were getting a little bolder with this flirting thing. “I hope you’re able to come tonight, even if it’s just for a little bit.”  
Kurt nodded grimly. “I’ll try. But Carole’s been trying to extend family dinner into family dinner-and-tortuous-board-games-for-family-bonding time lately, so no guarantees. Either way, there’s no way my folks would let me sleep over knowing you’re sleeping over.” He donned a sterner face. “But no excuses for missing your moisturizing routine either way, mister. You can bring your stuff to Nick’s and still do it before you go to bed there. Do I need to text Jeff to remind you?”  
Blaine groaned. “No, I’ll remember. I promise.”  
As expected, the Warblers all cheered when Blaine arrived at the party. The first two hours of pizza and karaoke were a blast. Blaine was a little relieved to see that Sebastian wasn’t there, knowing Kurt would ask. Nick said that Sebastian had offered to bring alcohol but Nick had begged him off saying that his parents would likely be hovering and checking for that. Sebastian had rolled his eyes and Nick wasn’t surprised he’d blown the party off after that.   
“He’s really talented but sometimes his patronizing attitude is a bit much,” Nick confided. “He’s always talking about how much better things were in Paris or his old school. But he’s a good source if you ever want a fake ID.”  
Blaine bit his lip. “Eh. Kurt doesn’t really drink,” he deflected. “I don’t think I’m going to be needing one of those anytime soon.”  
“He got me one.” Jeff offered. “Even if you don’t want to drink, wouldn’t you want one on hand if there was an 18 and up concert you wanted to catch?”  
Blaine shifted uncomfortably. That had been exactly his thinking when he’d gotten his, but now it seemed a lot less worth it. He shrugged. “I’d rather not risk getting in trouble over one.”  
By 8:30, Blaine gave up on Kurt coming. He knew better than to text him--- Mr. Hummel had a strict rule about his kids not spending family dinner night ignoring the family gazing into their phones. But he figured if he was coming he’d be here by now.  
Nick brought everybody into the backyard to his family’s fire pit, ostensibly to make s’mores. The fire pit was fairly close to a large tool shed, however, and it turned out that Nick had plans for the space behind there, outside of any prying parental eyes.  
“We’re gonna give the new kids a chance to play,” he said, winking at Blaine.   
Realizing the implication, Blaine groaned. “You’re really gonna do this with your folks in the house a few feet away?” he asked, incredulously.  
“It’s late and it’s cold.” Nick argued. “They’re not coming out to check on us unless we set off fireworks or something. And they won’t be able to see anything from the house.”  
At first, Blaine stayed by the fire pit, roasting marshmallows with Nick and the guys who wanted to be in or see a fight sneaking behind the shed.   
“Surprised you’re not fighting,” Trent commented.   
Trent had never been a fan of Fight Club, if mainly because he didn’t have the confidence that he’d ever win in a match himself. Blaine had dragged him along to the first few fights and he’d acted as somewhat of an over-anxious referee in the early days. He was loyal to Blaine from their being fast friends when they first joined the Warblers, and would never disclose Fight Club secrets--- but he consistently begged off participating himself.   
Blaine looked anxiously back at the house to see if Nick’s parents were hanging by the window. He was sure that in similar circumstances his parents would be spying on him. But Nick seemed really sure. It was cold. The idea of burning off some energy with the guys had a strange appeal. Time went by and he could hear the grunting and cheering going on behind the shed, wondering who was matched up and who was winning.   
Trent chewed on his smores a bit and finally announced. “It’s too cold. I’m goin back in,” and headed back towards the house.  
Blaine sighed. This was sort of like going to a party where everyone was drinking and you’re the only one who’s not, he figured. It’s not that anyone cares, it’s just boring. He wished Kurt had been able to come. Then maybe they could wander off together, maybe even find some quiet place to mess around a bit. Instead he was just standing here lonely, waiting for his friends to want to go back in rather than joining in the fun. At least Sebastian isn’t here. Kurt will be happy about that. Blaine figured Kurt wouldn’t be too happy about the Fight Club shenanigans, but… maybe he’d leave that part of the evening out when he asked for details later. He said he didn’t like me fighting. I guess it wouldn’t be that big of a deal if I just went over for some…. watching, right? Blaine timidly wandered towards the tool shed. These guys are gentlemen. If they ask me to fight, I’ll just say I can’t and… that will be that.   
Stepping behind the tool shed, Jeff and Nick were wrestling hard on the ground now. Blaine wondered how they planned to explain to their parents how dirty their clothes were going to be. Thad had his cell phone in hand, timing the fight. They often found going for two minute bouts increased the excitement, with one person trying to make the other person cry uncle before time ran out. Jeff looked pretty close to giving in, but Thad yelled “TIME!” and Nick rolled off of him, cursing as he knew how close Jeff was to giving in.   
Nick looked up as he brushed off his pants and smiled at Blaine. “Ooh someone not ready for retirement after all?”  
Blaine blushed as all eyes turned to him. “Just watching tonight,” he assured.  
Nick didn’t like taking no for an answer. “AN-DER-SON! AN-DER-SON!” he chanted, taunting the others into joining.   
“Nick, come on! I told you—“  
Nick jumped on top of a stump nearby and raised his hands, full of mirth now. “An-der-sonnnnn!” he sing-songed. “We’ll give you a choice. You can fight the old guard or one of our newbies. Though don’t know if any of these freshmen are so brave to take on a junior tonight.”  
“I don’t want one of us to get hurt and we have to explain to your folks—“ Blaine stammered.  
Nick chuckled. “Gentlemen. Here we have one of the founding members of the Dalton Branch of Fight Club, and he’s suddenly concerned about whether we might get a little bruised with this hobby. I really am starting to think public school made you soft.”  
Blaine rolled his eyes. “If anything private school makes you soft Nick. Dalton has an anti-bullying policy! It’s like one big safe-zone there!”  
Jeff’s jaw dropped and a couple of the new kids gasped. “Where’s your respect for the Dalton legacy?” Jeff demanded.  
“I’m not—saying—“ Blaine stammered, trying to walk what he’d said back. He took a breath. “Hey. Once a Warbler always a Warbler. Nobody’s gone soft. We’re all – tough, or strong, or whatever. I just think it’s not so smart to be doing this with Nick’s folks home.”  
Nick looked Blaine over. “Fair enough. But it seems to me if you didn’t really want to join in, you’d still be roasting marshmallows on the other side of my folks shed. Yet you’re here. And not for nothing, but it’s my birthday. And matching up with you for old times sake would be a heck of a present.”  
Blaine shook his head at Nick’s toothy grin. He couldn’t help himself. “Not sure how getting beat down would make a good birthday present,” he said, low.  
Jeff laughed out loud. Nick jumped off the stump, gleeful. “You think you’d win huh? Seems to me last time I left a pretty good mark on your neck? Don’t think you even made it past the one minute mark.”  
Blaine rolled his eyes. “And you know there’s been at least half a dozen other times in the past that was reversed.” He countered.  
“AN-DER-SON! AN-DER-SON!” Jeff chanted.  
“Some best friend you are, Jeff!” Nick teased. “You’re supposed to be rooting for me!”  
“I’m rooting for a good fight!” Jeff chuckled. “Thad, start the timer!”  
Blaine’s Warbler buddies had a way of charming him, and he found himself walking towards the center of the circle. He knew Nick would never really “hurt” him—it would just be a quick little match between friends like it had been a dozen times before. He had to admit, hearing his name chanted, everybody watching—there was something heady, exciting about it. It is Nick’s birthday after all. If this is what he really wants…


	15. Chapter 15

“OOF!” Blaine grinned as he heard Nick’s familiar grunt when he pummeled almost headfirst into him.  
“Fight! Fight! Fight!” came chants from the other Dalton boys gathered round.  
It felt like there was electricity running in his veins, sparking inside him as he tried to knock his stumbling friend off balance. Nick held his ground while attempting to shake Blaine from his grip around him. When that didn’t work he shifted his weight, getting his knee to slam painfully into Blaine’s stomach a couple times. Blaine staggered back a moment, stiffened by the pain momentarily before practically leaping back on top of Nick, trying to kick and scratch his way to victory.   
“Having fun birthday boy?!” he teased, holding on tight as Nick yelled animalistically, determined to loosen Blaine from his back.  
“AN-DER-SON!” bellowed a gleeful Jeff from somewhere behind then.  
Nick tripped over a tree root on the ground, yelping as he stumbled forward onto his hands, sending Blaine rolling to the ground. Seeing his chance, Nick quickly jumped on top of the now-prone Blaine, laying his full weight on top of him before he had a moment to slither away.   
“Just as scrappy as I remember!” Nick announced to the crowd.  
Blaine groaned, feeling Nick’s elbow digging into his back and the wood from that tree root scraping against the back of his hand. He couldn’t squirm free and gasped for air, the wind knocked out of him. Wincing, he kicked his feet, trying to muster up a burst of energy, some kind of momentum….  
And suddenly Nick had rolled him over and sucker punched him in the gut. “OWWww!” Blaine yelped, rolling into himself. He felt Nick’s other hand pulling at his jacket, trying to get him upright to knock him down again. Not this time… He slammed his fist in Nick’s direction, landing on his shoulder with a SMACK that hurt his hand at least as much it must have hurt Nick. Both Nick and Blaine cried out on the impact, Nick rushing to nurse his shoulder with one hand while Blaine grimacingly shook the sting from his.   
It would have gone on from there if Blaine hadn’t looked up just then, rubbing his sore hand and trying to catch his breath.  
“Jesus, Anderson. Those boxing lessons were worth something.” Nick whined. He wasn’t done—just trying to catch a second wind. Blaine couldn’t help but smile at the little praise there but suddenly his body had gone stiff, his jaw slack.   
“I… um… Uncle. I’m out.” He muttered.  
Nick dusted his jeans, not sure he’d heard him correctly.  
“What’d you say?”  
“I’m done.” Blaine said, bolder, holding a hand up to Nick’s chest while still looking off in the distance.  
“Wait. You’re letting me win?” Nick asked, confused.  
Blaine nodded. He swallowed.   
His friends, caught up in the drama between them, finally looked over to where he was looking. It was Kurt. His slender figure was leaning up against the shed, his expression unreadable.  
Nick blinked. He wasn’t sure what had happened and needed a moment for his adrenalin to come back down.  
“H-hey Kurt.” Jeff called.  
Kurt waved, neutral.  
Blaine rubbed the back of his neck. He stepped out of the center of the crowd. It had all seemed so…. LOUD…. Before. And now the silence seemed overwhelming. He stepped towards Kurt.  
“I thought… you wouldn’t be able to come…” he ventured.  
Kurt nodded. He shrugged. “Carole got me a last minute reprieve.”  
Blaine nodded, and nervously went up to give Kurt a kiss, which he returned. Blaine then bit his lip, shakily looking back at Nick and the other Warblers.  
“We were just… um….” Blaine’s voice trailed off.  
There was a silence for a moment.   
“Nicholas!” came a booming female voice from the distance, startling the other boys.  
“Ugh. Looks like my mom’s probably gonna shut us down here—“ Nick groaned, grabbing for his hat which had fallen off in the scuffle and hurrying everyone back in the direction of the house.   
Blaine and Kurt watched the others head away. Blaine was unsure what to say.  
Once the others were clearly a safe distance away, Kurt cleared his throat.  
“So. That’s Fight Club, huh?” he asked quietly.  
Blaine shifted. “Kinda.”  
“Kinda?”  
“I mean. Yeah. It is. It’s more people than usual here, but… that’s Fight Club.” He said it lightly, sheepish and hoping to make it sound like not so big of a deal.  
Kurt nodded, studying his boyfriend. He spoke quietly, choosing his words. “Did you…. Forget that we had discussed your involvement in this before?”  
Blaine’s throat felt dry. “It’s not --- really that big of a---“ he started.  
“We had an agreement.” Kurt interrupted flatly.  
Blaine chewed his lip. “I’m not hurt or anything—“  
“You’re bleeding.”  
“What? I’m not--”  
Kurt rolled his eyes., annoyed now “You don’t even know you’re bleeding? God, what is wrong with you, come here.” Kurt grabbed Blaine’s hand, holding it up to his face. Confused, Blaine looked down at his knuckles. They hadn’t even felt particularly sore until then, the pain in his stomach pulling all of his attention. But there it was, blood dripping from his hand. When did that---?  
Kurt pulled on Blaine’s arm. “Wh-what are you--?” Blaine sputtered.  
“There’s a first aid kit in the trunk of my car.” Kurt was all business now. “I said, come on,” he commanded.  
“Oh.” Blaine felt small, letting Kurt lead him across the yard to his car.   
“Nick’s parents are 20 feet away, have you all lost your minds?” Kurt scolded in a hushed tone once they got to the car. He dug the first aid kit out of the trunk.   
Blaine flushed, embarrassed as Kurt tore a package of alcohol swabs open.   
“They can’t see… behind the shed—“ Blaine defended uneasily.  
“Uh huh.” Kurt dabbed at the cuts along the ridges of Blaine’s knuckles, causing Blaine to hiss.  
“Owww!”  
“Hold still.”   
Blaine pouted at his boyfriend’s seeming lack of sympathy. “That hurts!”  
“Not as much as an infection will.” Kurt dismissed.  
Blaine sulked, but let Kurt bandage up his hand without further comment. When it was all done, Kurt tossed the kit back into the trunk of his car, and then crossed his arms and leaned against the car, looking at Blaine disapprovingly.  
Feeling Kurt’s gaze on him, Blaine wished he knew what to say. “…Thanks for the bandage.” He muttered. He was suddenly aware of how cold it was, and wrapped his arms around himself uncomfortably.  
“Your welcome. Glad I got here before you broke something though since I’m all outta splints.” Kurt replied, sarcastic.  
Blaine swallowed, looking at the ground. “You’re mad.”  
Kurt shook his head. “I’m disappointed.”  
Blaine felt guilty now. “I haven’t…. done Fight Club in… months, at least. Honest.”  
“You’re not supposed to be doing it at all.”  
The words hung in the air.  
Blaine fidgeted with the bandage around his hand.   
“Sorry?” he offered.  
“Is that supposed to fix anything?”  
“Come on Kurt, what do you want me to say?”  
“You know I have to punish you for this.”  
Blaine squirmed and rolled his eyes. “Kurt—“  
“Rolling your eyes, really?”   
“I didn’t—“  
“The problem here is you don’t take this arrangement seriously.”  
“This arrangement?”  
“You told me to hold you accountable and you’re rolling your eyes at me when I do?”  
Blaine scowled. “I thought that was just mostly for school stuff.”  
“You deliberately disobeyed me here. We agreed no more Fight Club.”  
“I just—it was Nick’s birthday and… I don’t know! I got caught up in it all.”  
“And if I hadn’t come and had just called you later, you would have lied about it.”  
“I wouldn’t have lied—“  
“I know you. You wouldn’t have admitted to this on your own. You would have acted like it never happened.”  
Blaine pursed his lips, knowing it was true. It was quiet for a long time. Finally, he sighed. “I… shouldn’t have gotten in the fight with Nick.” Blaine said quietly. He looked down at his hands. “I promised you I wouldn’t and… since you weren’t here, I guess I just did think I could get away with it,” he admitted.  
Kurt looked at his watch. “I’ve only got another 45 minutes to an hour before I have to make my curfew. I’m going inside and catching up with the guys I haven’t seen in months. But you’re coming to my house tomorrow before you go home. In the mean time I want you to think about what you did and what you think you deserve for it.”  
Blaine swallowed. “What I deserve?”  
“You agree you need to be punished?” Kurt asked flatly.  
Blaine hesitated. This was so…awkward. “I—y-yeah. I guess?”  
Kurt stared at his boyfriend, seeming unimpressed. “Well I agree. Maybe spending the night thinking about your actions will make that a little clearer for you. You’re going to be punished; I just haven’t decided how yet,” he warned.  
“I see.” Blaine’s breahing was shallow at that ominous threat.  
“I look forward to hearing your suggestions tomorrow. Now let’s get inside, it’s freezing out here.” Kurt dismissed.


	16. Chapter 16

Inside, Blaine hung back while Kurt hobnobbed with all the Warblers. Everybody wanted to tell him again how hilarious he was as Officer Krupke and Kurt ate the attention up. Too soon he had to say his good-byes, with lots of promises to catch up on Facebook and such.   
“Sucks you can’t stay longer, man.” Nick said as he was heading towards the door.  
“Happy Birthday though—I really appreciate the invite!” Kurt said with a wave.  
“Of course! Dalton’s cutest couple is always welcome here, even if you two are public school traitors now—“ Nick teased with a wink.  
“Don’t worry, you can trust us. We haven’t shared any of the Warbler secrets yet!” Blaine assured, taking Kurt’s hand to walk him back out to the car.  
“I’m going to be hearing all night how they miss you!” Blaine remarked as the door closed behind them. “We should try to double date with some of them or something some weekend soon.”  
“They really are the nicest guys,” Kurt commented. “Still can’t figure out what they all see in beating each other up,” he muttered.  
Blaine shrunk a little at the sarcasm, feeling ashamed. The grimace on his face caught Kurt’s eye and he stopped, running his hand against Blaine’s face.   
“You okay?” he asked, concerned.  
Blaine shrugged. “Just… feeling kind of guilty I guess.”  
Kurt nodded. “You have a hard time saying no to those guys, I get it.”  
“I hate having you be mad at me.”   
“I told you. I’m not mad, just—“  
“Disappointed. That’s worse, Kurt.”  
Kurt sighed. “We’ll come up with an appropriate punishment tomorrow and put it behind us. I’m not going to tell you not to feel bad—I think you should feel kinda bad, honestly. But that’s why we’re going to take care of it—and give you some incentive to do better next time.” He added pointedly.  
Blaine nodded, his face warm. It wasn’t fun thinking about being in “trouble” this way, but knowing after he served whatever sentence Kurt came up with that it would be over—there was reassurance in that. He kissed Kurt.   
“I wish you could stay longer,” he whined, leaning his forehead against Kurt’s.  
“Me too,” Kurt confessed. “But not too long a wait, you’re coming over tomorrow morning.”  
Blaine made a face. “But that’s not for any kind of… fun reason.”  
Kurt rolled his eyes and smiled. “And whose fault is that again?” he teased, stealing a kiss to Blaine’s cheek before hopping in his car. Blaine watched him drive off and then trudged back to Nick’s house.   
I’m such an idiot. I should have just stuck with Trent and not even gone behind the shed in the first place. I knew what they were doing.   
Blaine was rather impressed that Kurt had been (mostly) calm about everything. They’d been really clear about no more Fight Club and he’d caught him (literally) red-handed. He wondered what his punishment would be. He remembered that Kurt had indicated he ought to be prepared to say what he thought he deserved. It’s not like I was fighting with strangers or… weapons or anything. Blaine knew Kurt wouldn’t say those excuses held any water. “You’re not supposed to be fighting at all,” he’d said. And he was right. He guessed that Kurt would judge this kind of infraction a bigger deal than daydreaming in class and such, claiming safety concerns more important than grade point average. That’s what my parents would probably say too…  
Heading back into the house, Blaine joined his friends in watching movies most of the rest of the night, but he found it hard to concentrate. He felt guilty and kept replaying his actions in his mind. Kurt’s probably right—it’s pretty lucky Nick’s parents didn’t catch us. He wasn’t sure what Nick’s parents would have done, but it likely wouldn’t have been pretty. Maybe they would have shut down the party and made everybody go home? It would have been a tall order to explain why he’d been kicked out of a sleepover to his folks.   
As Blaine finally tucked himself into his sleeping bag that night, his wondered what his parents would have said if they’d caught him wrestling Nick on the ground the way Kurt had. There was no question that he’d be in trouble for something like this with them—it’s one reason he’d gone out of his way to keep his involvement with the Fight Club under wraps all this time in the first place. My parents are old-fashioned though. Someone like Mr. Hummell would probably understand something like this better—maybe? I shouldn’t have gone against Kurt’s wishes, but it’s just us guys blowing off steam really. Rehearsing his excuses in his head, he knew the slow shake of the head he’d get from either Kurt or his folks if he’d ever tried to use them. Blaine had never been caught fighting (for sport or otherwise) except a couple times with his brother. Blaine shuddered, remembering how angry his father had been this summer when he’d caught them going at it in the kitchen. It’d been a long time since he’d gotten any kind of paddling with a wooden spoon and his father had swung it sharply that morning, making sure it left an impression on both their backsides. Fighting is never acceptable, he said. It’s not dignified. Blaine remembered how embarrassing it was when his mother found out about it later and how scolded him, agreeing they’d both gotten what they’d deserved.   
Blaine grimaced at the memory. He’d felt really guilty when he got caught in the fight with his brother. Tonight was different—everything with Nick had been for fun—but he definitely felt guilty about doing something Kurt had expressly told him not to do. Kurt’s the most important thing in my life and I’m sneaking around behind his back? That’s the kind of thing people break up over; I can’t be screwing up like this. The more he thought about it, the more ashamed he felt about it. It was hard to deny that he deserved some kind of correction. And it was weird, but he was starting to feel like he needed to be punished—to get past this, and maybe not make another mistake like this again.  
It’s not like Kurt can give me a spanking or anything though.   
The thought seized Blaine and would not let go.   
This is dumb—it would be weird to get a spanking from your own boyfriend. There’s no way Kurt would go for it anyway. But he asked… what I deserved. Is that it?


	17. Chapter 17

The Warbler boys were sorry when Blaine announced at breakfast that morning he was going to have to head out early.   
“Promised Kurt I’d swing by his place for a bit,” he explained.  
“Ooh---“ Jeff sing-songed. “Get it, Blaine!” he teased, causing Blaine to instantly blush.  
“It’s nothing like that.”  
“I’m so jealous of you two!” Nick whined. “Dating Crawford girls means having to wait till a dance or a weekend half the time. You guys see each other every day, is it must be one long make-out session!”  
“Eh, not exactly…” Blaine replied, rolling his eyes.  
“I meant to ask, was Kurt okay last night?” Nick asked.  
“Okay?”  
“He was just, real quiet, at the fight. Did we get you in trouble? He doesn’t really seem like the Fight Club type.”  
“Oh. Uh. Of-of course not. He just, hadn’t ever seen that before.” Blaine hedged. “I never really told him about how we—“  
“You kept Fight Club from your boyfriend?” Jeff asked, rather incredulous.  
“What, do you all tell your girlfriends about it?”  
Jeff chuckled. “Mine would be hollering at me at the very idea, so no.”   
“Good,” Nick scolded. “The whole idea of Fight Club is you don’t talk about Fight Club.”  
“Right.” Blaine conceded. “Well Kurt did have some… safety concerns. But it’s cool, he’s not going to tell on you or anything.”  
Eventually Blaine knew it was time to face the music and headed out. He took the long way to Kurt’s house, trying to focus on what he should say and hoping he’d earn favor by seeming appropriately ashamed of his actions. He wasn’t sure if Kurt really had some punishment in mind and just wanted to put him through the process of thinking about what he deserved. I could say I’ve earned one thing and he could disagree and decide it was too harsh… or going too easy. Pulling into Kurt’s driveway at last, Blaine grimaced. Usually when he went to Kurt’s house it was for sexy times or at least relax time listening to music or watching Project Runway together… Whatever Kurt decides, it’s going to be deciding on a punishment. Something to make me learn a lesson. Blaine turned off the ignition and looked at the bandage still on his hand. He hadn’t yet figured out what he’d say to his family about that. Kurt said it was dangerous. This wasn’t that big of an injury—he’d definitely had worse before… but it was in a fairly visible location so likely to draw more attention than other things before. I guess I’m lucky I didn’t break my wrist or something… He imagined Kurt’s disappointed face, knowing he couldn’t try to argue that Fight Club wasn’t that dangerous when he’d needed a bandage for a fight that hadn’t even gone more than a minute or so.  
Blaine stepped out of the car and saw Finn coming out of the house.   
“Hey Blaine, didn’t know you were coming by!”  
“Yeah… needed to check some history notes with Kurt—“ Blaine hedged.  
“Well, he’s upstairs.” Finn said, leaving the door open and gesturing towards the stairs. “I’m off to football practice! See ya!” he waved.  
Probably the friendliest he’s ever been to me…  
Blaine closed the door, scanning for signs of Mr. and Mrs. Hummel. Seeing none, he padded up the stairs and meekly knocked on Kurt’s door at the top landing.   
“Be right there…” Kurt’s voice called. Blaine felt his palms get sweaty for some reason, unsure what to expect. But Kurt gave him a bright smile and a kiss when he opened the door, setting him more at ease.  
“Hey! You have fun last night?” Kurt asked leading his boyfriend into his room.  
“Uh yeah. You know I always love to catch up with those guys.” Blaine replied, just a little fidgety.  
“I think Finn’s leaving soon—“ Kurt started, looking out the window to see if his car was gone.  
“Yeah, he had football practice, I saw him when I drove up.”  
Kurt nodded. “My dad’s at the shop and Carole went out to brunch with one of her girlfriends.”  
Blaine swallowed. Normally such circumstances would be perfect for some alone time with Kurt. But that wasn’t what this was for.  
“I guess that’s… good.” Blaine offered, feeling like he should be… standing at attention or something? And his hands didn’t quite know where to be now…  
Kurt eyed him. “Did you take time last night to think about your actions young man?”  
Blaine chewed on his lip and nodded.  
Kurt cleared his throat. “I think a verbal answer would be more appropriate,” he lectured with a pointed look.  
“I—uh, yes. Yes sir, I thought about it. Couldn’t sleep for awhile, actually.”  
Kurt nodded. “And what do you have to say for yourself then?” he asked.  
“W-well, I—I made a promise to you that I wouldn’t do Fight Club anymore. S-so I’m really sorry I broke that promise. I know you don’t think it’s safe, and you’re right that I probably wouldn’t have…. Just volunteered the information about what I’d done if you hadn’t been there.”  
“You would have lied about it.”  
Blaine blanched. “I mean… maybe. I would have… hoped it just wouldn’t have come up. But if you had asked me—‘What did you and the guys do at 8:30 last night?’—well I… probably just would have said we roasted some marshmallows and… left it at that,” he admitted.  
“So you understand that infractions like this require a response?”  
Blaine shifted from one foot to another, uncomfortable. “Y-eess. Uh, sir, I—I get that you’re going to punish me.”  
“You feel you deserve to be punished?”  
Blaine pursed his lips, about to nod. Then he thought better of it. “…yes s-sir,” he said quietly.  
“I’ve punished you before, but I have to say, I take this a bit more seriously than a little daydreaming in school young man,” Kurt scolded, stern.  
“I—I know sir.”  
“Schoolwork is important, but safety and respect are a lot bigger priorities in my book.”  
Blaine looked at his shoes.  
“I thought about having you write another essay for me about this, but I honestly don’t really have the patience to read through something that’s just… you telling me what you think I want to hear.”  
Blaine looked up. “I ww-w—wouldn’t—“  
“You disagree with me about how dangerous this hobby of yours is.”  
Blaine squirmed. “I—cut my hand open last night, I mean I obviously get that—“  
“You like the pain of being in a fight?” Kurt asked, honestly curious.  
Blaine wasn’t sure how to answer that. “Well—not exactly, um…”  
“Not exactly?”  
“I think… it’s not really about the pain--” Blaine stumbled, trying to put together words that would make sense. “Honestly Kurt, I got bullied a lot in middle school. Like, a lot a lot.”  
Kurt nodded.  
Blaine cleared his throat. “And the worst of it was definitely the night of that Sadie Hawkins Dance but there were a lot of… pretty violent incidents before that too.”  
Kurt sighed, exasperated. “This is why you being in this club makes no sense to me! I know you’ve been beaten up before, why would you—“  
“Because it was never fair before!” Blaine blurted.  
There was a long silence. Blaine rubbed his hands together. “I know I—disobeyed your wishes. I know you’re going to punish me—that you… should punish me. I just… I think I’ve just been drawn to the chance of being in a fair fight some times. And I know you think it’s really unsafe but there’s this… modicum of control—like I know who will be there, I know when it’s going to happen, I know there won’t be any surprises really… Maybe fighting this way has been me looking for some kind of… healing sometimes.”  
“It built your confidence.”  
“Yeah. Certainly when I’ve won. But even when I didn’t win, it was just—  
‘let’s shake hands and see you next time’? It felt different because it was just—for sport, not aimed at humiliating me or anything. And it felt like… good practice for if ever someone not-so-nice tried to fight for real.”  
Kurt sat down on the edge of his bed, taking this all in. “I hadn’t really thought about why you might be drawn to this,” he admitted.  
Blaine nodded. “You’re right though. Fight Club’s… part of my past. You’re all that matters to me now, and I want you to hold me accountable. I want you to scold me if I’m late to our date at Breadstix, and push me when I’m not taking my work seriously, whatever I need to do to be my best, and whatever I need to do for our relationship. Breaking a promise like that isn’t okay. And as much as I tell myself that this isn’t a big deal, anything that I feel like I have to keep secret from you and my family—probably isn’t something I should be getting involved in. And… I agree that I probably deserve more than a writing assignment this time.”  
There was a pause. Kurt tilted his head, thoughtful. Finally he asked quietly, “Did you have a more appropriate form of discipline in mind?”  
Blaine’s mouth felt dry and he took a nervous step backward, unsure.  
Kurt eyed him. “You have then,” he accused gently.  
Blaine shrugged. “Uh. Kinda,” he said. “I don’t—know if you’d agree with it though. It’s just more. More than before. I don’t know if you--” he faltered.  
Kurt got up slowly and took Blaine’s hands in his. “Blaine. You let me worry about what I think. Tell me what you think you deserve. Then I’ll decide if it’s appropriate or not.”  
Blaine’s face felt hot and his eyes looked down towards Kurt’s shoes. He felt Kurt’s hand on his chin, gently forcing eye contact. “Tell me,” Kurt repeated.  
Blaine swallowed. “I was thinking I… maybe need to —“ he stuttered awkwardly.   
“Yes?” Kurt encouraged.  
Blaine took a breath, trying to get the words out. “--That I de-deserved… I deserve to-get-a-spanking sir.”


	18. Chapter 18

Kurt stared at Blaine.  
“Wh-what did you say?” he stammered.  
Blaine looked away. “You heard me,” he said quietly, trying to sound respectful and not sure he was accomplishing that.  
Kurt took a step back. “You’re serious?” he asked, delicate.  
Blaine took a breath. “You—asked me what I deserve. I thought about it,” he said simply.  
Kurt nodded, trying to get his bearings. “W-ell I’m not… sure… I could… do that to you.”  
Blaine looked up at Kurt. “I understand. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. It’s just--- you were right that an essay or something… I could just tell you what you want to hear and not really…”  
Kurt’s hands twisted against each other. “You could.”  
“I—I’m sorry if this is awkward, Kurt—“  
“N-no, it’s just kind of a lot to absorb. I didn’t think… you’d ask for something like that.”   
“It’s not—exactly asking. I don’t…want you to. But if you did, I think I’d… well, I’d be embarrassed for sure, and I expect it would-- hurt, so…”  
“It would get your attention.”  
“…yes sir.”  
There was a long silence. Kurt paced a bit around the room, with Blaine watching him process this. Blaine chewed on his lip, wondering what Kurt was thinking and feeling the weight of shame around him. He felt bad enough now about what he’d done, and talking about this just added to it somehow. He was starting to wish he’d skipped Nick’s party altogether.  
“I told you to beg off Fight Club invitations,” Kurt said at last. “Months ago.”  
Blaine studied the floor again. “You did, sir.”  
“We started doing this because you wanted discipline. You asked me to keep you accountable for your actions.”  
Blaine felt butterflies in his stomach but he breathed, “Yes sir. I always want… all the ways you take care of me, sir.”  
Kurt nodded, more resolute. “A spanking is a childish punishment.”  
“It is, sir.”  
“But perhaps it is a deterrent when childish actions are an issue.”  
Blaine felt warm, knowing how he’d disappointed Kurt. “It’s not… super grown up to be breaking promises or… getting into fights,” he admitted.  
“No. Quite the opposite.” Kurt grunted. He looked thoughtful.“I expect I’d have to put you over my knee, or lean you over a desk?”  
“I—uh, guess… whatever you decided you were… most comfortable with sir?”  
“I’m most comfortable with what’s going to send the best message to my boyfriend that he is never, ever going to risk his safety or disobey me like this again.”  
Blaine’s breathing was shallow now hearing Kurt’s sterner voice.  
“I—I trust you sir,” was all he could spit out.  
“Good. I was—caught off guard by this, but I told you—I’m not going to be embarrassed to give you what you need.”  
Blaine shrunk into himself a bit. This was becoming more real now.  
“Do I scare you?” Kurt asked, noticing Blaine’s body language.  
“N-no sir.” Blaine whispered. “I told you, I trust you. But I’m still nervous… and kind of embarrassed.”  
Kurt nodded, putting a hand on Blaine’s shoulder. “Well I think you should be embarrassed. Sneaking around at a party just to get into a fistfight? That’s not the dignified, responsible Blaine Anderson I know.”  
“I—I’m sorry sir.”  
“Being sorry is good. If you’re sorry you’ll think about that feeling a little bit next time you’re tempted to disobey me. If I’m going to be in charge of your discipline you’re going to need to get used to one thing quick-- I’m not going to tolerate disobedience.”  
It was all Blaine could do to stand still now. His shame was overwhelming. “Yessir….” He whispered.  
“When you agree to my expectations, you agree to be responsible for them. And if you miss the mark you need to be corrected accordingly.” Kurt lectured. He pursed his lips, building his resolve. “I think you may be correct, Blaine. I think a childish punishment—being put over my knee, having your bottom warmed up good—maybe that is just what you need to learn this lesson. And if that’s what you need, well I’m going to provide it.”  
Blaine’s face felt hot; he couldn’t speak. Kurt sat on the edge of his bed.  
“Blaine, you need to come here now.”  
With a dry throat and uncertain gait, Blaine made his way over to Kurt. He hesitated a moment and then awkwardly tried to bend and crawl over Kurt’s knee. But Kurt stopped him, pushing him back to standing.  
“Wait.” Kurt said simply. Blaine obediently stood, a confused expression his face. Kurt took a breath. “I think…” he said tentatively. “I think if I’m going to do this, I need to do it… properly.”  
“Properly?” Blaine asked, unsure.  
“You need to take down these pants.” Kurt said, gesturing.  
Blaine froze for a moment. Oh. “I um… yes sir.” Blaine nervously tugged at his belt and opened it, and then shakily unbuttoned his pants, pushing them down.  
“This is difficult for me too, young man,” Kurt admitted. “So I hope it gets my point across clearly.”  
“I won’t—misbehave like this again sir.” Blaine sputtered.  
“See that you don’t.” Kurt replied, reaching over and pulling down Blaine’s boxer shorts quickly, almost too quickly as though he was trying to do it before he changed his mind.  
Blaine gasped, feeling vulnerable, his hands semi-paralyzed with wanting to cover, but unsure whether they should cover his front or his backside at this moment.  
“A proper spanking is on a bare bottom.” Kurt pronounced.  
Blaine’s hands twisted in the air, chastised.  
“Yes sir.” Blaine replied, full of regret.  
With that, Kurt took Blaine’s wrist and tugged it to get Blaine crawling over his knee. It was awkward, Blaine unsure where to put his weight and feeling exposed. He’s seen me naked before. This shouldn’t be a big deal. The embarrassment was so distracting he’d hardly begun to consider how painful this might be. He just wanted it over, soon. An embarrassed tear rolled down his face. He felt Kurt’s hand tap gently at his backside.  
“You may not like being punished young man, but I expect you’ll remember this next time you shirk your responsibilities.”  
“Yessir—“ Blaine started, yelping at the sting of the first SMACK to his bared bottom. He blinked, shocked for a moment. Kurt followed up with another SLAP, eliciting a low “Ow.” And then a sharper SPANK to his sit spots quickly came after, startling. Blaine’s legs twitched at the pain. He hadn’t been sure what a spanking from Kurt would feel like exactly. He knew it would sting, obviously. But a part of him had figured it couldn’t be so bad with Kurt being so… nonviolent and all. It was striking that it had hardly begun and he was already wincing. He grimaced, trying to take it without embarrassing himself further with tears. Kurt has a harder hand that I would have guessed…


	19. Chapter 19

SMACK… SMACK… SLAP. The swats descended steadily, though some smarting sharper than others, as though Kurt was experimenting with how hard. Indeed, that’s more or less what he was doing. Having never been on this side of such discipline, he was rather morbidly fascinated to see Blaine’s bottom redden, the small squirms when he spanked a little harder or off-rhythm, and the way he whimpered at each little pause in the punishment. Kurt surmised that Blaine was doing what he would probably do in similar circumstances: hold on to what little dignity could be found by trying to think of anything else and hold in any tears. If he spanked relatively softly, he could hear an exhale of breath as Blaine relaxed. If he slapped him harder, Blaine’s back would tense and he knew he was feeling it and trying to hold it together. Having no guidance or preparation for this, he felt rather anxious, unsure how hard or how long was right. But after a minute or so he turned his attention more to the coloring of Blaine’s bottom, swatting with an intent to even out the redness, figuring an even layer of sting at least was appropriate.   
Neither could quite believe this was happening and a part of Kurt was honestly just trying to get through it as much as Blaine. He didn’t entirely know what to make of this request, but he could imagine such chastisement would be a pretty powerful reminder to avoid certain temptations. He could not even conceive of seeking out such treatment himself and a part of him sort of admired Blaine’s bravery in putting the option out there. He could have said no and chosen some other penalty—and maybe next time he would, he told himself. But he wanted to try at least, try to give Blaine what he seemed to need.  
After a bit his hand started to sting too and he stopped for a second, shaking it. He felt almost sheepish about it, as though he was being a baby to have any complaint here about pain and wondered if there were some secret to solving that problem. This thought was interrupted by the sound of Blaine sniffling and Kurt looked down at the back of his boyfriend’s head rather startled. Blaine’s hands rushed to his face, already buried in the comforter and Kurt realized Blaine was crying. He hadn’t really known what to expect but somehow didn’t particularly consider that happening. Listening, he debated with himself. Should he stop? Comfort him? Crying meant that the discipline had his attention, he figured, so he attempted to mimic his father’s best authoritative voice.  
“You feeling it, young man?” he asked.  
“Uh—uh huh.” came a teary and meek whimper.  
Impulsively, Kurt turned his attention back to the bottom over his knee and spanked it hard, three times in succession—causing Blaine to gasp out at the pain.  
“OW--- ow OWWWW I’m sorrrryyyyy….” Blaine blubbered, squirming hard. Kurt instinctively grabbed a tighter hold on him, almost afraid he would fall off his knee and onto the floor.  
“You have retired from Fight Club. Got it?” Kurt spat.  
“Y-yesSIRRrrrr…. Pleeeeaseeee…” Blaine begged miserably.  
Kurt could see Blaine’s shoulders moving up and down as he tried to catch his breath and get back control of his tears. He felt compassion for him: it was so strange to be in this role of causing him pain and not stopping it or comforting him. He rested his hand on the bare bottom across his lap, feeling the heat radiate.   
“Not fun, is it?” he commented.  
“No sirrr…” Blaine whispered.  
“It’s not fun for me either,” Kurt confessed. “Punishment’s not supposed to be fun,” he added, attempting to locate his sterner voice.   
“It hurtssss…” Blaine whined.  
Kurt nodded. “Good. Then we haven’t wasted our time here. You knew better than to defy me. It’s meant to hurt,” he said, adding a SWAT to Blaine’s sit spots as if to drive the point home. Blaine whimpered, nodding and remorseful.   
Kurt sighed, ready for this to be over. Blaine’s bottom was certainly much redder now than it had been when this had started, and the tears seemed to indicate honest regret for his actions. He decided that this was enough. He moved his hands to Blaine’s back and pulled on him, pulling him up to half standing. Blaine continued sniffling and crying as Kurt rather hurriedly pulled up the underwear and pants over Blaines’ sore bottom, not bothering with his belt. As soon as the clothes were back up he stole a glance at Blaine’s tear-streaked face, making eye contact.   
“I’m so sor—rryy—“ Blaine started in a whisper until his voice cracked out.  
Immediately Kurt grabbed him into a hug hard, pulling him onto the bed with him until they were both holding each other and laying there, Blaine sniffling into Kurt’s chest. “It’s okay,” Kurt soothed, petting his hand against Blaine’s back. “You’re forgiven... You had to be punished, but it’s over… You’re okay.”   
They laid there for a long while, just grateful to be in each other’s arms.


	20. Chapter 20

After a long while, Kurt got up the nerve to ask.  
“Are you okay?”  
Blaine muttered automatically, “Yessir.”  
“N-no. None of--- that right now. I wasn’t looking for—“ Kurt felt himself flush at how uncertain he was feeling now. “I just mean, do you need anything?”   
Blaine twisted his head out of the crook of Kurt’s chest, and looked up curiously. He sniffled, thoughtful. Grateful to have a task Kurt reached over to his nightstand hurriedly and brought over a box of tissues, pulling a tissue out and shoving it in Blaine’s hand.   
Blaine absently accepted it, unashamedly wiping his face but kept looking back to Kurt.   
“Maybe… I ought to be asking you that,” he offered quietly.  
“Me?”  
“Are you okay?” Blaine asked, concerned.  
Kurt didn’t know what to say; it seemed like such an absurd question. “I—of course I’m—I wasn’t the one who—“  
“Was that hard for you?” Blaine asked neutrally.  
Kurt opened his mouth and then closed it. He looked at Blaine and then hung his head. “Some,” he confessed.  
Blaine pushed the tissues back aside and then gently took Kurt’s face in his hands. “It was…” Blaine started, hesitating as he tried to find the right word, “…intense. You were stern, but it was fair. I told you, I trust you. And I love every way you take care of me, Kurt. I know I needed… correcting.”  
Kurt nodded. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I mean, obviously, I did—I was trying to hurt you in a way, but not—“ he faltered, laying back on the bed and rolling his eyes. “This whole conversation is sort of absurd.”  
“I know you’d never hurt me. Not really.”  
“How can you say— after I just--“  
“I asked you to. Well sort of. I guess I opened the door so you had the option to.”   
“I could have said no.”  
“So could I.”  
“Not while you were over my knee, though—what if I—“  
“It’s so sweet of you to be worried about this,” Blaine marveled.  
“Yeah I don’t sound like much of a disciplinarian do I?” Kurt made a face. “I just don’t like feeling like I don’t know what I’m doing.”  
Blaine grunted. “Sure seemed like you figured it out just fine. If you’re really looking to know, I guess the best way I could describe it is… my backside sort of feels like it’s got one bad sunburn all over it right now.”   
Kurt instinctively reached over to Blaine, touching his arm with concern.   
Blaine smiled. “Sunburns fade. It’s definitely not pleasant, but I know it’ll feel better after a bit. My pride took a bigger hit over crying I think.”  
“I was trying to give you what you wanted. Or—what it seemed like you were needing? But thinking about how emotional you got made me second guess a little if it was the right thing to do—or if I did it… appropriately.”  
Blaine nodded.  
“I know I can’t be making mistakes like this Kurt. Forget the fighting part—if we agree to something I want to honor it. It’s part of being committed to each other. I don’t want to keep secrets from you, and I don’t want to be doing things you don’t approve of. I got what I deserved.”   
“ It’s just… unusual, and—“  
“Since when are we usual?” Blaine teased.  
Kurt smiled. He pressed his mouth up against Blaine’s, kissing him slowly, drinking him in. “I love you so much…” he exhaled.  
“I love you too.” Blaine cooed. He cleared his throat. “But seriously, if this made you uncomfortable at all, it doesn’t have to happen again.”   
Kurt held his boyfriend’s hand, thinking. “Could we… have a signal of some sort at least? Not just for a spanking, but for this… whole weird… discipline thing we’re doing? I don’t have a real issue with doing it except that it felt awkward being the first time I think. It’s just… a lot of trust you’re putting into me in a situation where it’s sort of my job to push you and scold you—to take control.”  
“A signal? You mean like a safeword?”  
“OH MY GOD.” Kurt groaned and rolled away from Blaine, burying his face in his pillow.  
“What?” Blaine asked, laughing.  
“I can’t believe you used that word. It sounds so… sordid.”  
“Why?”  
“Like this is some kind of--- thing we’re doing in a creepy fetish club somewhere.”  
Blaine giggled. “Yeah I’m not sure they have those anywhere near Lima.”  
“Well you would know.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
“Mr. Hey-If-You-Want-To-Learn-More-About-Sex-I-Can-Recommend-Some-Good-Websites here…”  
Blaine grinned. “I was trying to help! And those were all educational sites, seems to me you were the one telling me you’d seen movies online.”  
“Uh huh. Was it because of those very educational sites that you knew Scandals was a gay bar?”   
“It’s not like it’s a secret. They have ads in the back of the newspaper!” Blaine admitted.   
Kurt rolled his eyes, laughing.   
Blaine snuggled up against him. “I think you’re right. A safeword is a good idea, even if you have some kind of Victorian hangup about the word itself,” he teased.  
“I can still put you back over my knee, you know,” he mockingly threatened.  
Blaine grinned. They both lay there a moment, thinking.  
“We could try… ‘Dalton?’” Blaine offered after a beat.  
“Hmmm. Our favorite safe space becomes our safeword?”  
“Well technically now I think that’s ‘Choir Room.’”  
“Oh right. We’re both Dalton traitors now,” Kurt joked. “Dalton seems like a good neutral option though. We can try it.”  
“It makes you feel better having it? Because seriously, Kurt, I never for a moment felt unsafe or anything--”  
“I believe you when you say you trusted me.” Kurt interrupted. “I’ll be better at this for you if I know you have a clear out. I don’t want to go too far, and I don’t want you to ever be in a position where you can’t say I have.”   
Blaine took a breath. “I guess this… kind of is us agreeing that… what happened this morning… may happen again?”  
Kurt nodded. ”I won’t say I’d always punish you like that, but it seems like it makes an impression on you. You always know when you’ve done wrong, you just need someone to address it sometimes so you can change course.”  
“I’d want you to say the safeword too though, Kurt. Even if I did screw up royally and was in trouble with you—you don’t even need a reason, if you just didn’t want to be doing this with me for some reason or you felt like we need to talk more as our normal selves and not so much in this way— I like that we could both stop and re-evaluate whenever we need to.”   
“You could just be a perfect angel and not need any discipline you know.”  
Blaine smiled fondly. “I’ll do my best.”


	21. Chapter 21

Blaine stretched in bed. “I can’t believe I actually cried,” he admitted.  
“Well a spanking is supposed to hurt,” Kurt shrugged.   
Can’t really argue with that…  
“It’s just kinda embarrassing.”  
“You didn’t think you would? Was it because you thought you could be stoic—or is it more because you thought I wouldn’t… really punish you how you deserved?”  
“I… can’t say I thought about it… seriously? I wasn’t really thinking you’d be likely to agree to do it. And I think I just thought, even if you somehow did, I guess I thought you’d go easy on me?”  
“Well… I’m not sure what ‘easy’ would look like for you, but it was my first time doing this. And it was kind of tricky at first trying to figure out… how hard was hard enough, how long it should go for—but I guess my overall feeling is, if I’m going to do something like this… might as well do it thoroughly and get a point across.”  
“…Well it was… memorable. So I guess you accomplished your goal there.” Blaine said, feeling a little uncomfortable.  
“You think if Nick called you up, trying to get you to come over and finish last night’s shenanigans—you think you’d think of it at least?”  
Blaine nodded. “I’m not going to put myself in that position again Kurt. I promise.”  
Kurt kissed his boyfriend. “Good. I like you best all in one piece.”  
“Honestly I feel like I just want to stay in good graces with you as long as possible right now,” Blaine admitted.  
Indeed, Blaine had quite a little honeymoon period for the next week or so. He felt a little silly about it, but anytime he found himself distracted in class he thought of Kurt’s stern face and forced himself to pay attention. When he got to study hall and the prospect of trudging through his physics seemed less appealing than doodling choreography ideas for Glee instead… he thought of the sting of that spanking and forced himself to open his textbook. He made an extra effort to be nice to Finn, even if he was only vaguely nice to him 90% of the time. And whenever he could find a way to be a good boyfriend by helping Kurt out he jumped at it.  
“We should have done this from when we first got together,” Kurt joked when he saw Blaine going out of his way to open a door for him.  
“What do you mean?” Blaine asked.  
“You’ve always been a charmer but this is a bit much. You don’t have to do all this.” Kurt added as Blaine took his books out of his hand to help carry.  
“I like doing things for you!” Blaine defended. “It makes me happy!”  
Kurt shrugged. “Well I guess if you can find something to be happy about these days I shouldn’t stop you,” he said cynically.  
“What’s got you?”  
“The Glee Club is even more of an embarrassment these days than usual. It’s all I can think about.”  
“Mr. Schue’ll think of something,” Blaine assured.  
It was all Kurt could do not to roll his eyes. Blaine could be hopelessly naïve about Mr. Schue sometimes.   
As it turned out, Mr. Schue did have a trick up his sleeve, although from what Kurt gathered that was mostly Finn and Rachel’s doing. Sam would be crashing in the spare room until further notice, which Kurt was rather nonplussed about—but he agreed that the addition of another solid voice at the eleventh hour had some potential in this case, so it was worth it.   
“Dude we’re like brothers now!” Sam enthused.  
Kurt wasn’t so sure he needed an extra brother: the one he had too often had him nostalgic for his years as an only child.  
“Before I met you I had a little crush for him,” Kurt confessed to Blaine over Skype that night. “It’s so weird what a difference a year makes.”  
“How’d Finn even track him down?” Blaine asked, pointedly avoiding the subject of Kurt having eyes for anyone but him. Taylor Lautner fantasies were one thing, but… Of course, he’d have liked Sam. He’s tall, he’s got blonde hair, those lips—he’s basically perfect. If he’d have turned out to be gay I’d probably never have had a chance.  
“Facebook. He went down to Kentucky with Rachel and they talked his parents into it somehow. It’s going to be good for us, but honestly, Sam really needs Glee Club right now. Finn said they found him in a strip club. Like, that’s what he’s been doing for extra cash.”  
“Wait. …You’re serious?” Blaine was completely flabbergasted by this information.  
“Yeah, but don’t spread that around. I’m sure it’s not something Sam needs advertised.”  
“He was stripping?”  
“Apparently Rachel and Finn thought it was some kind of theatre or dance performance but then he took his pants off, so… yeah.”  
“That’s so… sordid and immoral.” This was about the most shocking thing Blaine had ever heard someone he knew had done. But there was something—comforting?—about it. Maybe he’s not Mr. Perfect after all. Gross.   
Kurt stared at the face Blaine was making for a minute. “Okay. You need to stop.”  
“Wh-what?”  
“You’re not going to go gossiping about this.”  
Blaine blinked. “Who said I was—“  
“Not with me or anyone else. Sam’s a good person.”  
Blaine made a face. “I mean… if what you said is true, he can’t really be—“  
“Your family has money, Blaine. You can’t possibly know what it’s been like for them.”  
Blaine froze, defensive. “I—well my parents have good jobs but that doesn’t mean--”  
“He had to pawn his guitar last year, can you even imagine having to sell your most prized possession? They were using the Lima Food Pantry and living in a hotel room, Blaine.”  
“I know that. I wasn’t—I’m just saying, I can’t imagine—even if I was in that position somehow, I would never—“  
“Well, that’s you. You don’t get to judge him for—“  
“Kurt, come on. Are you saying you would ever—“  
“No… I don’t know. I’ve never been responsible for helping get food on the table. I don’t think I would but that doesn’t mean I have the right to judge him for making the decision to help his family however he could.”  
There was silence for a moment. Blaine was thrown that Kurt was taking such a hard line on this. After all, he was usually more than ready to gossip about what other people had done, what fashion mistakes they were making—but Sam being a stripper was suddenly not gossip-worthy? If anything, Kurt was usually the one of the two most easily scandalized about things.   
Kurt cleared his throat. “You’re going to show him courtesy, got it?”  
“W-well of course I’ll—I’ll--“ Blaine sputtered, defensive.  
“That means in person and behind his back.” Kurt added, stern.  
Even though they were in two separate rooms, Blaine felt his insides rumble at Kurt’s firm voice. He looked away.  
“I… sure.”  
“I mean it, Blaine. If Mercedes gets wind of this—“  
“I get it. I won’t talk about it.”  
Kurt nodded. “I’m serious. You have any trouble keeping whatever opinions you have about this to yourself, or I swear I’ll put you over my knee and spank your bottom red until you remember your manners.”  
Blaine shrunk. Kurt was serious.   
“Y-yes sir.” Blaine muttered, chastised. He fidgeted with a pen on his desk, uncomfortable. He felt a little ill-used—it’s not like I even did anything wrong here—but he’d given Kurt reign to decide if he needed disciplining, so… not gonna be worth risking it to argue the point. He didn’t know Sam very well, and certainly didn’t think he would ever have much in common with him now. Kurt had already made a big point that he needed to be “courteous” to Finn even when Finn was being sort of a jerk to him, and now this. Blaine might think it was a bit much, but he had agreed to accepting certain consequences as long as Kurt had laid out his expectations, and it was pretty clear what Kurt expected. I don’t really have to like it, but if I like letting Kurt be in charge of certain things, I guess I have to respect his rules.


	22. Chapter 22

Blaine may have agreed not to talk about Sam’s private business, but he certainly thought about it every time he saw him the next couple days. It was just so crazy to think that someone his age had been a real stripper. He secretly wished he could somehow get Rachel and Finn to spill all the sordid details because he had a lot of curiosity about exactly what they saw—not that he would ever admit it. He knew Sam used to be a football player and obviously worked out. Knowing Kurt had had a crush on him way back when somehow made Blaine feel shorter next to him. He tried not to spend too much time imagining him naked, but he guessed he probably looked as attractive under his clothes as he did covered by them. But how sexy is that really with a bunch of leering strangers looking on? And how do you even interview for a job like that? He must have a fake ID or something to have even gotten the job. You definitely have to be at least 18 or 21 for that. He wondered how much money he made. No amount of money could ever be worth it. He tried to imagine what the place must have looked like— seedy, obviously, maybe crowded? Probably full of smoke because somehow in his imagination people in strip clubs were largely smokers and there were no policies against it. He imagined people cheering Sam on, shouting about what great abs he had, how perfect his hair was, and then throwing dollars at him. It’s practically prostitution! And where do you even put the dollar bills they give you if you’re not wearing anything with pockets? Dancing onstage with nothing on for a roomful of strangers was just so undignified. He wondered if the Warblers would even accept someone with a past indiscretion like that—the Warblers make sure everything and everyone is classy. New Directions doesn’t blink an eye—they re-recruited him at the strip club itself even!  
Blaine was sure he could never be a stripper, not only because his family would likely literally kill him, but because he knew he’d feel awful for doing it. Maybe Sam had some extenuating circumstances, as Kurt so generously seemed to believe—but wouldn’t anyone who did that have to be wracked with guilt about doing something so sketchy? Maybe it’s easier to have loose morals about this stuff when you have a body like Sam’s. But even if he could make money for his family, you gotta draw a line somewhere. It’s not like a job he could tell his mother about even! He imagined how Sam must have had to sneak around to even go to work. Some of those people probably wanted more than a look, even. Oh my God, what if he has an STD from some creepy stranger?  
Blaine wasn’t sure why he was so hung up on Sam. Maybe it was just a case of having agreed to not talk about something made him think about it even more. Ever since he’d started having sex, though, he’d been really grateful for how his first time had played out, and how special spending that kind of time with Kurt had been since. He imagined older people—his brother, for one—would roll their eyes to hear how he so often dreamed about how he and Kurt could be together forever. But they were already past the 6th month mark—a lot of high school relationships don’t last nearly that long. Why shouldn’t he at least hope for forever when he couldn’t imagine any other future? He remembered how he used to feel inadequate being already a sophomore in high school and never even had a boyfriend before—and now he couldn’t imagine it any other way. He’d been more nervous that first time than he’d expected he would be— insecure about the birthmark on his thigh, his height, his lack of real abs, a million things all of a sudden—but Kurt put him at ease. And now it was just… easy. They were both perfectly imperfect as they liked to say. Kurt’s the only person who’s seen me naked before. It’s like a sacred thing almost. Sam probably thinks his stripping isn’t any big deal, but he just doesn’t have the kind of thing Kurt and I have. He probably has to tell himself that just to sleep at night.   
“What are you thinking about?” Kurt asked jovially as he saw his boyfriend staring into space by his locker.  
Blaine shook himself. He wasn’t planning on sharing what was on his mind, but he imagined if he did, Kurt would likely say he was being judgmental. He smiled. “You,” he said. “Always you.”


	23. Chapter 23

The next few days involved some pretty intense rehearsals for Sectionals. Blaine found he was less likely to butt heads with Finn if he kept his mouth shut as much as possible, so he tried to keep a low profile. The choreography was easily the most intricate of anything they’d done so far and he tried to practice at home as much as he could.   
One night after a long Glee practice he’d rushed through his dinner and gone right back to reviewing all the steps again. He had homework to do, but he wanted to perfect the moves so he wouldn’t screw anything up at the next rehearsal. I’m being professional. It’s not that late yet, I can do my physics later. There was a lot of jumps and turns and finally his mother had scolded him for making all that racket and made him go practice in the basement instead.  
He finally stopped an hour later when Kurt made his nightly call.  
“You okay? You sound all out of breath.”  
“Nah, I’m fine.” Blaine laughed, heading up to the bathroom. “I just spent the last hour working on those moves for ‘ABC.’”   
Kurt groaned. “I love the song but the choreography is killing me and it isn’t even finished yet.”  
“Me too, but I think I’ve got what we have so far down now.”  
Kurt rolled his eyes. “Overachiever,” he accused.  
Blaine smiled. “If I’m letter perfect maybe Finn’ll get off my back.”  
“Blaine, everybody is better than Finn. Even Sam’s better than he is and I’m not entirely sure Sam can knows which one is his right foot and which one is his left.”  
“Well I don’t think either one of them are going to much like me anytime soon honestly. But it seems like Sam makes the girls all swoon with his dancing even so.”  
“You’ll win them over eventually. And since when do you need girls swooning when you have me?”  
Blaine grinned. “I don’t. It just seems like it’s easy for him… being popular. Honestly I thought… with the rumors about him he’d be having a harder time with that.”  
“Are you kidding? Sam’s joined synchronized swimming because he thinks Mercedes will be more into him if he has a letterman jacket. He’s ridiculous and he doesn’t think he’s popular at all.”   
“More popular than me.” Blaine groused.  
“You just have issues with the guys because they’re jealous of you.”  
Blaine couldn’t imagine what they’d have to be jealous of. Everyone was plenty talented. “Hard to believe.”  
“The girls like you fine.”  
“Not Santana.” Blaine argued.  
“Well. Santana doesn’t like anybody.” Kurt replied.  
“Fair point.” Blaine conceded.  
“Hmmm… have people really been talking about Sam’s…past?”  
“Tina was talking about it with Mike. She kinda tried to see if I had any details. And I heard Santana and Brittney in the hallway.”  
“Wait, and what did you say?” Kurt pointedly asked.  
“Nothing. Just walked away both times, like I promised.”  
“Good. Petty gossip is one thing, but this is different.”  
Blaine sighed, putting his phone on the sink and opening his moisturizing cream. He was skeptical he’d ever really think of Sam as a friend. He was so close to Finn, after all. And he really felt Kurt was being pretty arbitrary here on what was gossip-worthy or not.   
“What do you know about Sam?” Tina had asked, grabbing him in the hallway.  
“Sam? Nothing.” Blaine had sputtered, thrown.  
“Come on. He’s living at your boyfriend’s house. You have to have the details.”  
“I d-don’t know what you’re talking about.”  
“I heard he was butt naked when Rachel asked him to come back to Ohio. He was practically a prostitute out in Kentucky.”  
“Tina! You know that can’t be true.”  
“That’s what I heard.”  
“Well you… didn’t hear any of it from me.” Blaine had muttered, secretly wondering where she had gotten her information from. On Tina’s look, he winced, adding apologetically, “I just try not to gossip much about people if I can help it.” Truth be told he longed to compare notes, but wasn’t going to risk being in trouble with Kurt. Tina rolled her eyes and stormed off.   
Blaine sighed, leaning against the lockers. Guess Tina’s not going to be my best friend anytime soon either.  
Hours later, as he was wrapping up his moisturizing routine with Kurt, Blaine realized that he really didn’t have any friends at McKinley besides Kurt. Artie had been his director and he was still kind of intimidated by him to the point that he wasn’t sure he could ever be seen as a peer. Rory was nice enough, but all the other guys seemed to hold him at a distance and he could never figure out how to break that ice. Kurt was super close with some of the girls in Glee to the point that he sometimes felt like a third wheel hanging out with them. It had been so much easier making friends at Dalton. He’d auditioned for the Warblers and everyone had been super welcoming—being accepted into the semi-elite group had definitely helped. Here, no one was impressed you could sing and dance—in fact, it seemed like almost a count against you sometimes. I was the lead in the freaking school musical—somewhere else that’d make me popular right? It surprised Blaine how much it bothered him, when a few short years ago he wasn’t so much trying to be popular as trying to keep as low a profile as possible to avoid bullies.   
Thinking that his only shot at getting real respect and, eventually?, friends, was doing the very best he could on everything with Glee, Blaine pushed himself to run through all of the choreography again before bed. It was exhausting, but it had to pay off eventually. And even if it didn’t, wasn’t one of those Dalton sayings that excellence was it’s own reward? I’m acting spoiled. I have everything I could possibly want going to school with the love of my life. I knew it would be different here—no one’s like the Warblers.   
Blaine climbed into bed late that night, having put more thought into mastering the choreography than Mr. Schue had likely put into developing it. He figured that at the very least Mike would have to be impressed with him. Satisfied with this thought he drifted off to sleep, not even noticing the packet of physics questions he’d left out on his desk, still untouched.


	24. Chapter 24

Blaine woke up to a sharp knocking at the door.  
“Blaine, your breakfast is cold!!” his mom called.  
Blaine muttered something incomprehensible in reply.  
“Are you coming?! Did you sleep through your alarm?” she asked, annoyed.  
Blaine opened one eye to check the time and then shot up in bed.   
“What? N-n-no Mom I’m up, I’m coming, Mom.” Blaine sputtered.   
Blaine rushed to his dresser, hurriedly changing out of his pajamas. He must have forgotten to set his alarm, he realized. Ugh. Once dressed he practically ran to the bathroom, quickly brushing his teeth before slathering his hair down with gel. He made a face in the mirror, not super happy with the results—but it couldn’t be helped.  
“Blaine!” came his mother’s irritated yell from downstairs.  
“I’m coming!!” he yelled back. He put away the gel and toothpaste and rushed back to his room to grab his briefcase. He picked up his homework and realized he’d forgotten to do it. Shit. He thought about trying to work on it downstairs, but his mom was already annoyed with him today and might take it as an opportunity to lecture him about how he was dancing half the night and should have done his homework first. Too risky. He stuffed the packet of papers in his briefcase and hurried downstairs.  
Breakfast was cold, but he wasn’t going to irritate his mother any further by complaining or anything, so he swallowed the cold scrambled eggs as quickly as he could.   
“Your ride’s going to be here any minute, young man. You can’t be dawdling like this every other day.”  
“Yes mom…” Blaine muttered quietly, choosing not to fight this one.  
“You can’t be—“ his mother continued, and would have continued if it weren’t for the sound of Kurt’s car rolling into the driveway.  
“Kurt’s here!” Blaine announced, relieved, through his mouthful of food. He stood and drank up his orange juice. “Thanks for breakfast mom—“ Blaine added, putting his dishes in the sink and then rushing out the door.  
Mrs. Anderson rolled her eyes but let Blaine go. Mornings were among her least favorite parts of parenting.  
Blaine practically jumped into Kurt’s car when he arrived.   
“Woah, everything okay?”  
“Just been… rushing a bit this morning. Forgot to set my alarm.”  
Blaine reached into his briefcase, thinking he could work on his physics for a moment.  
“Hmm. Well then it’s lucky you got up in time at all I guess.” Kurt replied, neutral.  
Blaine froze. Was he going to make a thing of this? “I almost always remember. Last time I forgot was… summer sometime.” he defended.  
“Well that’s good.” Kurt shrugged.  
Blaine nodded, reassured. He took out his homework.  
“What’s that?” Kurt asked, his attention split looking at the road as he turned on White Street.  
“Physics.”  
“Your homework?” Kurt asked.  
“Yeah.” Blaine said, distracted trying to read the directions.  
“I thought you weren’t going to be doing homework on the way into school anymore.”  
Blaine fidgeted. He’d hoped Kurt wasn’t going to hold him to that. “I—I’m not.”  
“You just said—“  
“I finished this last night.” Blaine explained, turning it over and then slipping it quickly back into his briefcase lest Kurt get too close a look. “I just wanted to review something. The teacher’s been giving these pop quizzes lately.”  
Blaine turned on the radio, his thumb twitching against his bag. If he could have done his homework now, he’d get at least a page done, which would be better than handing in nothing. Now he wouldn’t have even a page done. At Dalton if you didn’t hand in homework you got a detention. At McKinley he didn’t think there’d be any consequence like that unless it happened a lot. I can just say I forgot it at home and bring it tomorrow? Kurt won’t even know.


	25. Chapter 25

Blaine walked with Kurt to his locker before first period, where Rachel found them.  
“Blaine you have to be my lab partner today. Jacob Ben Israel’s been hassling me asking why I never partner up with him.”  
Blaine nodded sympathetically. “Sure, Rachel. I don’t know anyone else in that class real well anyway. Honestly getting to hang out with you is about the only thing I like about that class.”  
“AW, you’re the best.” Rachel hugged Blaine. “Hey, what was your answer for that last part on the homework last night? I spent like a half hour on it and finally gave up.”  
“Uh—I d-don’t remember exactly, but probably if you didn’t get it no one did.” Blaine hedged.  
“Well we should at least compare answers so—“  
“Don’t forget to meet me by the gym after school today, Blaine.” Kurt interrupted.  
“Right.” Blaine smiled, relieved for the disruption. “No Glee this afternoon, I’ll remember. And we can go back to my place and study for history after.” Blaine offered.  
Kurt smiled. “Can’t wait. Gotta run, I can’t be late for French.”   
Blaine and Rachel waved goodbye to Kurt and headed towards class. Rachel started rambling on about something Finn had said to her on the phone the night before and didn’t Blaine think that was romantic? But Blaine was only half-listening. He hoped the teacher wouldn’t make a deal of him not having his homework.   
Rachel grabbed Blaine’s arm as soon as they entered the class, pulling him to a table as far from Jacob Ben Israel as she could.   
“Everyone settle down!” Mr. Erickson was saying. “We have a lot to do today. Take out your homework packet and exchange it with a partner. We’ll go over the answers and they’ll correct it and then you can use it to study for the test at the end of the week.”  
Blaine bit his lip. Fuck. He watched as Rachel slid her homework over to him and blinked, feeling her look on expectantly.  
Slowly, Blaine opened his bag, making a show of rummaging through his notebooks.  
“Uh… Rach—I think I left mine at home.” he whispered.  
“What?”  
“It’s gotta be sitting on my kitchen counter right now. I can’t believe I—“  
“Is there a problem over there?” Mr. Erickson asked, annoyed that students were talking.  
Blaine looked up, his face feeling hot.  
“Uh, Mr. Erickson sir, I must have forgotten my packet at home. I totally did it, spent like an hour on it yesterday-- it’s just—“  
“Then you can take a zero for the assignment.” Mr. Erickson replied curtly. “If you bring it in tomorrow I can average the grades but that’s all I can do.”  
Blaine’s face fell. So even if he got a 100 on the homework he’d still have an F? How was that fair?   
“That sucks.” Rachel whispered to Blaine.  
Blaine shrugged, not looking at her. Not the best way to start the day.  
“Everyone look at number one on the packet…” Mr. Erickson said.

* * * *

Rachel caught up with Kurt in the cafeteria later so she could tell him in excruciating detail about Finn and how romantic he was being lately, to Kurt’s general annoyance.   
“I was just going to invite you over for dinner with us tonight but if you and Finn are going to be all lovey-dovey I’m not sure…” Kurt teased.  
Rachel grinned. “We’re so young to have already found our soulmates, Kurt.” She said dramatically. “Wait I thought you were studying for history with Blaine after school today.”  
“We are. I meant after. But we’re both doing fine in history anyway, it’s mostly an excuse for some together time.”  
“Well he does need a pick me up. I felt so bad for Blaine today in Physics, oh my god.”  
“Ouch, he hates that class, what happened now?”  
“He totally did his homework but he forgot it on his kitchen table or something. And the teacher made us all switch packets so he basically got called out for not having his homework in front of the whole class.”  
Kurt raised an eyebrow. “He didn’t have it?”  
“Poor guy, he went through like his entire briefcase looking for it.”  
“Huh.” Kurt nodded, his expression unreadable as Rachel returned to talking about herself. He chewed on his pasta, wondering what he should do with this information.


	26. Chapter 26

Kurt saw Blaine shortly after lunch because they had history class together. Blaine got there first, and was taking out his textbook at their usual table when he walked in. He lit up with a smile like pretty much always when he saw Kurt.  
“Hey.”  
“Hey, how’s your day going?” Kurt asked, sitting next to him.  
“Eh, had some ups and downs, but better now you’re here.”   
The bell rang and they didn’t really get to talk. The teacher was lecturing from a Power Point presentation but Kurt only half-listened. He was wondering what he should do now that he knew Blaine had lied to him this morning. The homework piece was an issue, of course—particularly since it was homework for one of the two classes that had gotten them started on this discipline journey in the first place. If Blaine had been honest in the morning that he hadn’t done it, he certainly would have scolded him a little on general principle and at least threatened discipline for any future similar lapses. Maybe he would have gone so far as to give him a couple swats after school over it, he wasn’t sure. If he had it’d probably be just over his jeans even, he mused, knowing he’d have wanted to make a point but not feel it was worth the whole ritual. But lying was something else altogether, and to see Blaine’d apparently decided it was so worth it to lie that he’d forgone the chance to even try to get some of the work done on the way in! He decided he needed to address it, today.  
Blaine for his part spent most of history strategizing about how he was going to bring up his physics grade with this additional blot on his record. He was worried a grade that low on an assignment would bring down his overall grade significantly enough to draw attention—whether from his folks, or for Kurt. He wondered if he talked to the teacher he could score some kind of extra credit opportunity. The last thing he really wanted was more homework, but he figured that likely was his only shot at fixing this at this point in the semester. He wondered if an extra credit assignment would be as hard as the everyday assignments already were. And there was a test at the end of the week, so now he felt pressured to do even better on it too. Ugh, I’m gonna be up to my ears in stuff for this class all week.   
After school, Blaine stopped by his Physics teacher’s classroom with a few butterflies in his stomach. Mr. Erickson wasn’t known for having much of a bedside manner, but Blaine figured he could spin asking for extra credit into asking for academic enrichment. I care so much about my education I want to learn more about physics, honest. A teacher would have to appreciate that kind of initiative, right?  
“M-mr. Erickson?” Blaine stammered in the doorway of the classroom, seeing his teacher grading papers at the desk at the front of the room.  
“Yes?” his teacher queried, not looking up from his work.  
“I um…. was hoping I could talk to you?”  
“About?”  
“I wanted to see if there’s anything I can do for extra credit? You know, to bring my grade up.”  
Mr. Erickson squinted, finally looking up at Blaine.  
“Hmm. I think you’re grade would be best served by getting your homework done, and on time.” He pronounced gruffly.  
Blaine swallowed. “Of course I’ll have today’s work all set. I mean, I already did it last night so…”  
“Uh huh.” Mr. Erickson muttered, not seeming very interested. “I have a faculty meeting to get to Blake—“  
“Blaine.”  
“Yeah. Whatever.” The teacher dismissed. He sighed. “You can write a research paper on a physicist from history for some extra credit, but it has to be in before report cards are due at the end of next week because I’m not going to--.”  
“Oh it will be, I promise. Th-thanks, I really appreciate—“  
“Great, see you in class.” Mr. Erickson pushed by Blaine before he could say anything more.  
Blaine rolled his eyes once he was out of sight. It was hard enough liking this teacher as it was… His thoughts were interrupted by the buzz of his phone. He took it out and saw a text message from Kurt.  
Where are you?  
Blaine hastily texted back. Be there in a sec.  
Blaine hurriedly bounded down the hallway and then down the stairs to the door outside of the gym where Kurt was waiting.  
“Hey!” Blaine greeted.  
Kurt eyed him. “Where have you been?” he grunted.  
Blaine was caught off guard by Kurt’s tone. “I—I had to talk to one of my teachers—“  
“You said you were going to meet me right after school.”  
“I—I did. I mean, it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. I just—“  
Kurt put a hand on Blaine’s shoulder and spoke low in his ear.  
“Young man, I think the words you are looking for are ‘I apologize.’”  
Blaine blinked. “Uh. Um—of—of course. I—I’m sorry,” he sputtered.   
“I’m already not so pleased with you at the moment, so I’d like to suggest you reconsider talking back to me.”  
Blaine squinted, confused. “Y-you are? Wh- what did I do?”  
“We’ll talk about it in the car.” Kurt replied dismissively. “Come on. I’m starving and want to get out of here.” With that, Kurt turned towards the door.  
Blaine swallowed, unsure what was up. But apparently Kurt wasn’t happy with him. He meekly followed behind him to the parking lot, thinking today wasn’t going quite as he’d expected. Maybe I should have just stayed in bed.


	27. Chapter 27

Kurt had a headache. He had just survived a rather harrowing French test. He had had a couple hours to stew on the fact that Blaine had lied to him, and then to have him not even bother to let him know he was running late? He just expected him to wait around for him? And he was hungry.  
He didn’t speak when he got in the car with Blaine, just turning up the radio. I need to eat something before I go overboard. Blaine, for his part, was looking rather small, quietly sitting in the car rather than singing along to the radio per usual. He’s probably sweating about what he’s in trouble for, Kurt figured. Good. Lying felt big, certainly bigger than the half-done homework he’d been in trouble for previously. If he thinks he can get away with fibbing about things, he’s got another thing coming. And he told me to make a thing of when he’s late for stuff—he didn’t even bother to come up with a decent excuse.  
Blaine was sweating. He knew Kurt was irritated with him about being late, but he wasn’t sure what else he’d screwed up. He wracked his brain. He’d overheard Brittany and Santana gossiping about Sam at lunch but he hadn’t joined in and there was no way Kurt could have found out about that anyway. Maybe he’d decided to make a deal out of his forgetting to set his alarm this morning after all? Maybe he’d spaced and daydreamed too much in math today and he’d gotten someone to spy on him and find out.? It was unnerving not being really sure, but seeing the tension in Kurt’s body—he was afraid to ask. Thank goodness he’s not in my physics class, he’d probably be even more annoyed with me if he knew about the homework thing.  
Kurt pulled into the Lima Bean parking lot, getting out without so much as a word. Blaine chewed his lip, unbuckling his seatbelt and quietly following him in. They often came to the Lima Bean to study, but it wasn’t always a great place for private conversation. Blaine watched Kurt order his coffee and a bagel to go, and then followed suit with his order. He took a deep breath as he picked up his coffee, seeing Kurt already reaching into his bag to eat a piece of bagel as he headed back out to the car. Whatever it is, I guess I’ll find out soon. Blaine waved to the cashier and returned to the car.  
He put on his seatbelt and sipped his coffee a bit nervously. Kurt had just about swallowed his bagel whole at this point.  
“You were hungry.” Blaine said, neutral.  
Kurt nodded. “French kicked my ass today.”  
“Oh I forgot you had that big test today. That rough, huh?”  
Kurt shook his head. “I’m sure I passed, it’s just a matter of how well I passed. I should have studied more,” he admitted.  
Blaine nodded sympathetically. “I’m sure you did fine,” he said, supportive. “I’m… sorry about being late before.”  
“You could have texted me if you had to talk to a teacher.”  
“Yeah I should have. I—wasn’t’ thinking about you having to wait for me,” he confessed.  
“You told me to be on you about being late for things. The expectation is you show me courtesy. Blowing me off isn’t showing me courtesy.”  
Blaine chewed his lip, forcing himself to squelch the urge to argue that he wasn’t really blowing him off.  
“…yessir.”  
Kurt eyed Blaine. “Which teacher was it?”  
“…uh. Mr. Erickson.”  
“Your physics teacher.”  
Blaine nodded.  
Kurt shook his head. “And why did you need to see him? Are you in trouble with him?”  
“T-trouble? No, why would I be in trouble with him?” Blaine asked, his voice squeaking up higher than usual.  
Kurt stared at Blaine. “Are you going to lie to me, young man?” he asked.  
Blaine’s hands were fidgety. “Of-- of course not,” he stammered.  
“Why did you have to talk to Mr. Erickson?” Kurt pressed.  
Blaine rubbed his hand against the back of his neck. “I was just asking about extra credit—it’s not my best class so I th-thought… you know, every little bit counts so I just stopped by his classroom to ask.”  
Kurt grunted. “Extra credit,” he stated flatly.  
Blaine nodded. “Yes. I d-don’t know why you seem to think I’m lying---“  
“Oh I know you’re not lying about that,” Kurt interrupted.  
“Well it seems like—“  
“Why do you suddenly need extra credit for your physics class?”  
“I—I told you. It’s like my second toughest class, so I thought…”  
“Some reason you’re suddenly concerned about your physics grade? So much so that you need to beg for extra credit when you were supposed to be meeting up with me.”  
“Kurt. I said I was sorry. I was--- thoughtless about that and I should have been more considerate. I should have texted you at least that I was going to be late, or found another time to talk to him. But you know I’ve been struggling in that class, basically all semester.”  
“But that’s not why you went today looking for extra credit.”  
Blaine felt butterflies in his stomach. “Mr. Erickson said I can do a research paper on a famous physicist from history,” he deflected. “It shouldn’t be that hard.”  
Kurt pursed his lips, disappointed in Blaine. He’d given him plenty of opportunity to admit he lied to him and he was still trying to get away with it.  
“Well. It sounds like you have a lot of homework tonight then.” He said, neutral.  
“A bit,” Blaine hedged.  
Kurt pulled into the driveway at Blaine’s house. He sighed, seeing there were no cars. Blaine’s parents were out, and usually that made for some pretty nice privacy for sexy times. Not today.


	28. Chapter 28

“I think we need to go upstairs and have a little talk.” Kurt said quietly as he turned off the ignition.  
Blaine bit his lip. “O…kay,” he muttered in reply. He silently gathered his things and got out of the car. Kurt wasn’t happy with him; that much was clear. He just wasn’t sure how to fix it. He wished he could go back in time and not gone to talk to his teacher, to not have made Kurt wait. It was true he had asked Kurt to remind him of his responsibilities when he was late for things. He never wanted he burden of wondering whether a bad habit like that could lead to a break-up. He hadn’t thought seeing his teacher would take that long, really—but if he was honest, he hadn’t really even considered that Kurt wouldn’t want to wait around or need a heads up.  
They went up to Blaine’s room. Kurt sat on the chair by Blaine’s bed and Blaine made busy by taking out his history book and arranging his study materials on his desk.  
“I don’t think we’re going to be working on history tonight.” Kurt said.  
“I thought that’s why we were---“ Blaine stuttered.  
“It sounds like you have more pressing homework to focus on tonight.” Kurt interrupted.  
Blaine looked away. It was certainly true.   
“You’re mad I made you wait while I got extra work.” Blaine offered.  
Kurt shook his head. “I didn’t like waiting. I don’t care about the reason.”  
Blaine nodded, feeling like he’d let Kurt down stupidly.  
“What I don’t like,” Kurt added sternly, “…is being lied to.”  
“You said you know I’m not lying about—“  
“You lied to me today.”  
“I didn’t, Kurt—what are you even—“  
“This morning. In the car.”  
The words hung in the air. Blaine didn’t know what to say. His hands fidgeted.  
“Y-you think I_--“  
“I don’t know why you keep dancing around this issue, but it’s not helping your case, young man.”  
“…You mean… about my work?” Blaine asked quietly.  
“Yes. The work you claimed you had completed.”  
Kurt eyed Blaine as he shifted from one foot to another.  
“How’d you even know—“  
“Does it matter? The issue isn’t me here young man. The issue is your dishonesty. You’ve told me to scold you for coming late to a date at Breadstix, yes?”  
“…yes.”  
“You’ve told me to discipline you for poor grades.”  
“…yes sir.” Blaine whispered, feeling small.  
“And yet I’m supposed to let you lie to me and say nothing?”  
“N-no of course not.”  
“Did you do any of your physics homework last night?”  
Blaine swallowed. “…I forgot.”  
“You were going to try to get some done in the car.”  
Blaine nodded, unable to make eye contact.  
“But when I called you on it you put it away and chose to pretend it was done. You didn’t want to put up with being scolded or worse. Maybe you thought I might decide you needed your bottom warmed as a reminder of your responsibilities.”  
Blaine studied the floor.  
“Am I right?” Kurt pressed.  
“…Yes, sir.” Blaine conceded.  
“Well you’re getting your bottom warmed now and good young man. We are in a relationship. I don’t put up with being lied to.”  
Blaine’s hands nervously reached behind him, unconsciously protective of his backside suddenly. “I--I’m sorry Kurt, honest. It was--- impulsive—I shouldn’t have—“  
“You got in trouble in class, didn’t you?”  
“…uh, kinda. A little.”  
“You knew that missing homework was going to bring down your grade.”  
Blaine squirmed. “Y-yeah.”  
“You could have told me that you were going to talk to your teacher but you knew I’d ask questions.”  
Blaine pursed his lips, nodding then looking down. He hadn’t really thought it through like that, but he had to admit that any other time he was running late he’d probably have tried to give Kurt a heads up.  
“So I had to wait for you after school because you were still trying to clean up your mess so neither me nor your parents would find out. You made it sound like you were being responsible, seeking extra credit in a tough class. But that’s not what motivated you. Report cards are coming and you knew you needed a buffer in case that zero pushed your final grade low enough to get some unwanted attention.”  
“…something like that.”  
“We’ve agreed that I can discipline you for rudeness, for thoughtlessness on a night out, for doing less than your best in school. Isn’t dishonesty at least as poor a behavior as any of those things?”  
Blaine wasn’t seeing a way out. “I—I guess so, sir.”  
“You guess?’  
“I—yes, I mean. I know I sh-shouldn’t be dishonest.”  
“You said it was impulsive.”  
“I just wasn’t thinking,” Blaine defended.  
“Oh you were definitely thinking. You were thinking I didn’t have to know about your homework. You were thinking if you covered up your behavior you wouldn’t be held accountable for it. You were thinking I’d never even have to know.”  
Blaine blinked, feeling unexpectedly teary and nervously trying to stop that from making this even more humiliating. Being caught was awful.  
“Weren’t you?” came Kurt’s low, inpatient voice.  
“Yes sir.”   
“You’re going to find that I take your discipline seriously, young man. If you’re finding this uncomfortable I suggest you take that into consideration next time you have the opportunity to hide something from me. I gave you the opportunity to come clean this afternoon and you continued to try to cover for yourself. Punishment’s not fun but trying to avoid punishment is only going to make things worse for you.”  
Blaine sniffled. “I’m sorry Iied, sir.”  
Kurt nodded. “Relationships are about trust. If I can’t trust you this doesn’t work.”  
“I—I know sir.”  
“And I want you to trust me. You can trust me to be honest with you. Trust me to be clear with you. And trust me to discipline you when you need it.”  
“I—I get it Kurt. You don’t have to—“  
“Are you in charge of your discipline or am I?”  
Blaine fidgeted. “W-well, y-you are sir.”  
“Then I expect you to respect that, not trying to negotiate your way out consequences.”  
Blaine was silent for a moment. “…I… do respect it sir,” he finally offered.  
“Good. Now come here.”


	29. Chapter 29

Blaine’s throat felt dry as he forced himself to comply, inching closer to Kurt. Kurt was mad; how could he have screwed up like this and made Kurt mad with him? I’m such an idiot. It felt like every step was harder than the next, caught between not daring to defy Kurt right now and not really excited about the prospect of being punished.  
For his part, Kurt was watching Blaine’s halting steps closer and telling himself to breathe. He wasn’t quite used to this role yet, but he wasn’t about to let that on to Blaine if he could help it. He needs me to be stern. He needs someone to take charge here. When Blaine had meekly stepped to only a few feet away from him, he slowly stood up, an action which seemed to startle Blaine, making him smaller, frozen. Kurt watched as Blaine struggled to make eye contact, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck now.  
“I’m s-sorry I lied to you sirrr…” he offered, quiet.  
“I expect you are,” Kurt dismissed, impatient. He reached over to grab hold of a belt loop on Blaine’s pants and tugged him closer. Blaine stiffened, not knowing quite where to put his hands suddenly.  
“Fibbing to me, forgetting homework, covering it up however you can, you have quite a few things to be sorry about today young man.” he commented.   
“…Yessir,” whispered Blaine, unsure what else to say.  
Kurt unbuttoned Blaine’s fly and deftly unzipped the zipper. Blaine held his breath, thinking how normally he would find that hot, but normally it wasn’t happening for this sort of reason.   
“I intend to make you a good deal more sorry.” Kurt warned. “And I’ll do it as often as we have these issues until you get the message that you can’t get away with these things,” he added for good measure.  
“I un-understand, sir.” Blaine said meekly.  
Kurt pulled Blaine’s pants to his knees and Blaine looked aside, trying to think of anything but how embarrassed and childish he felt. Kurt reached across to hold him by the shoulders, forcing eye contact.  
“You knew better young man,” Kurt scolded. “And when you know better you know what you can expect.”  
Blaine shrunk, uncomfortable. This arrangement wasn’t working out to be very much fun. He felt Kurt’s strong hands pulling him towards him and then reaching behind to tug his boxer briefs down to meet his pants. Blaine scowled, his bottom bared now making him feel vulnerable. He stiffened as Kurt pulled him shuffling to the bed, it all feeling real now and nervousness intensifying.  
“None of that,” Kurt reprimanded when he felt Blaine not exactly going quite so willingly all of a sudden. “If you didn’t want to get your bare bottom spanked then you should have made different choices today.”  
Blaine whined, miserable, but let Kurt guide him over his knee at that and felt him adjust him there to his liking. His hands balled into fists near his head, gratefully buried into his comforter. He knew he deserved discipline for not doing his homework, but here, prone over the bed like this, it was hard not to think of how he’d lied and how mad Kurt must be about it. Thinking about that was worse than thinking about getting spanked. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. He reasoned that this was unlikely to be pleasant but maybe it would be quick? He flinched as he felt Kurt’s hand slide against his backside, anticipating the sting to come.  
“You’re doing homework tonight. All of it. No Glee practice unless every lick of it is done, understand?”  
“Y-yessir.” Blaine was starting to feel conflicted, wishing it would just start and so it could be over soon, while also nervous.  
Kurt patted his hand on Blaine’s bottom, trying to steel himself for the task. “I hope you’re ashamed of yourself young man. You shouldn’t need to be taken over a knee like a bratty child because you can’t remember to be honest but I’m not ever going to be embarrassed to do that if that’s what you need.”  
Blaine sniffled and nodded.  
Kurt lifted his hand, and wanting to make a solid first impression, aimed a sharp SLAP to the undercurve of Blaine’s bottom, sending his boyfriend’s torso jumping up a moment at the impact. Blaine gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as Kurt then followed up a quick succession of swats--- SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK—that worked to stutter the breath out of his boyfriend pretty quickly.   
“Owwww…” Blaine muttered unhappily.  
“You’re going to learn this lesson and learn it well,” was Kurt’s unsympathetic response. He continued to spank steadily for another minute or so, watching intently as Blaine moved from relative stiffness to small squirms over his knee. He was less timid than last time, aiming for consistency with medium swats with the intent to build up a fiery warmth rather than shock all at once.  
He knew it was working effectively when he heard Blaine start to whimper, “I—I’m s-s-sorryyyy….”   
“I bet you are.” Kurt dismissed with a hard SWAT that caused Blaine to yelp. Businesslike, Kurt spanked in a circuit as Blaine’s ability to hold his tongue further loosened.   
“I—p-please….it hurtssss,” Blaine began to complain.   
“That’s the feeling of learning your lesson, young man,” Kurt spat, rolling his eyes. “You lied to my face. If you don’t like getting your bar bottom spanked for it you have no one to blame but yourself.” Kurt scolded and then continued to spank the bottom reddening over his lap.   
Tears started flowing for real then. It was hard to be objective in this position but somehow Blaine was sure each slap was starting to sting a little more than the last, and the longer it went on the more chastised and childish Blaine felt. It was hard not to squirm off of Kurt’s knee but Blaine felt his boyfriend’s strong hand holding him tighter in place over his knee and knew he wasn’t going to let him get away with that. He knew Kurt wasn’t going to be dissuaded with begging or negotiating, and the helplessness of it all was intense. Blaine’s feet rubbed against each other, frustrated, as the warmth on his backside continued to smart until his quiet tears bubbled over into blubbering.   
“Ow-owOUCH… I’m sorrryyyyyOWW….”   
Kurt didn’t acknowledge Blaine’s blubbering at this point but felt a quiet relief knowing Blaine was feeling it and hopefully wouldn’t need this sort of attention anytime too soon again. He slowed his spanks now, methodically trying to even out the coloring figuring that was as good a guide as any that he’d been appropriately thorough. Finally he tired and rested his hand on his boyfriend’s chastised bottom, feeling the radiating heat and listening as Blaine pridefully tried to quiet his crying and sniffling.   
“You going to be lying to me again anytime soon, Blaine?” he asked, stern.  
Blaine sniffled, struggling to talk a moment. “N-no sirrrr…” he stuttered out eventually. “I promissse…”he added tearily.  
“I hope not, because I don’t like having to discipline you. But you behave like a naughty little boy you’re going to get yourself punished like a naughty little boy, every time.”  
Blaine didn’t have anything to say to that and just whimpered “MMm-hmmm” miserably into his comforter.  
Kurt sighed. He’d been more confident this time than last, but this was all still so new to him. He hoped he was giving Blaine what he needed. Judging by the tears he clearly at least had Blaine’s attention. And now that it had happened twice Blaine knew that he was serious about following up on any future misbehavior. It felt like a lot of responsibility, somehow. Maybe someday he’d be able to do this without feeling nervous before or second-guessing after. I guess we’ll find out.


	30. Chapter 30

“Okay. You can… uh, get up.” Kurt finally said, quietly scolding himself not to sound so awkward. He helped Blaine back to his feet.   
Blaine felt a little dizzy, anxiously pulling his clothes back up. The anxiety to cover back up was kind of stupid, he felt; his dignity had already been put well aside, after all. But somehow he felt better—relieved. It was over. Except for the guilt I guess… He stood there, avoiding Kurt’s gaze for a bit, meek and embarrassedly sniffling.  
Kurt noted his boyfriend’s grimace and wondered what he was thinking. Obviously he his butt must still sting, and probably would for awhile. As it should. Kurt wasn’t mad, not really. But he liked the idea of keeping things honest between them, and felt like this arrangement might have a positive benefit in helping make sure that happened.   
“I trust I’ve given you plenty to think about.” Kurt commented.  
“Yes, sir.” Blaine whispered, trying to think of something other than his backside.   
“That was unpleasant.” Kurt offered, gentler now.  
“I’m really sorry, Kurt,“ Blaine blurted, “I hate that I lied to you—“  
Kurt hushed him with a hand up. “Of course. I know. Look,” he said, taking his boyfriend’s hands and forcing eye contact. “Doing this means…. We let these things go after.”  
Blaine nodded slowly. “It was fair,” he conceded, still embarrassed. “Honesty’s a pretty big deal. And of course, the schoolwork was one of the first rules we had so—as you said,” he admitted with a shrug, “I really don’t have anyone to blame but myself.”  
Kurt kissed Blaine’s forehead. “I’m glad you feel that way. But if it’s ever too much or anything, you’d tell me, right? You don’t even—need—a reason, I’ll stop if ever you want me to stop. I just… want you to know that.”  
Blaine sniffled hard, staring back at the floor for a moment. “…I trust you,” he said quietly at last.  
“Okay,” Kurt responded, just as quiet. He indulged in taking Blaine in his arms for a hug for a moment, feeling his boyfriend lean into him. Too soon, he cleared his throat. “You have work to do now,” he said into his boyfriend’s ear.  
Blaine pouted, but obediently slipped back from Kurt’s embrace.   
“I expect to see it all in the morning when we carpool. I’m not above having you redo assignments if it looks like they’re not your best work.” Kurt added, in his best stern voice.  
Blaine pursed his lips, knowing better than to complain. He was a good student, most of the time—and being spoken to this way was a good dose of humility. “Yes, sir,” he muttered. His fingers twisted against each other. “You can’t—stick around a bit while I—“  
Kurt stopped Blaine with a shake of the head. Blaine swallowed and looked back at the floor. Kurt sighed. “We’re letting it go, like I said. But you need to focus on correcting this situation right now. No distractions, including me.”  
Blaine nodded, docile. “I get it, sir.”

“Okay then I’ll leave you to it. I’ll talk to you tonight when it’s moisturizing time.” Kurt grabbed his bag and was just heading out when Blaine reached out to grab his arm.  
“Can I—still—kiss you goodbye?” he asked, shyly.  
Kurt smiled. “Always,” he said, reassuring.   
Blaine kissed Kurt, breathing in his cologne. “I wish I’d behaved,” he confessed. “I’d be getting to spend time with you right now.”  
“You’ll remember next time.” Kurt replied simply.  
Blaine watched his boyfriend leave, gently closing the door behind him. He absently rubbed his backside for a moment, grimacing at the lingering sting. Then he reached into his briefcase and pulled out his homework. He eyed the chair at his desk. Sitting didn’t sound too pleasant right now, so he brought his work over to the bed and set about to start it laying across his comforter on his stomach. Might as well get it all over with.


	31. Chapter 31

Blaine stayed holed up in his room doing his homework until his folks called him down to dinner. The ache across his backside had faded for the most part but the sense of meekness, of having been humbled, lingered. He’d completed his make-up work and most of his actual homework for the night, but the extra credit research loomed large. I’ve got to get at least a big chunk of it done tonight or it’ll never be done in time. Blaine padded downstairs slowly, a part of him wanting to just forget extra credit entirely and relax for the evening. He thought how easy it would be to just eat dinner and then walk over to the TV in the living room and zone out for a bit. He knew if he turned on the TV for even a little while a half hour would turn quickly into an hour and bedtime would come fast.  
“Hi honey. How was your day?” his mom asked.  
“Hey, it was fine-- um… would it be rude if I just took my food upstairs? I’ve just got a lot of work tonight.”  
His mother looked up from spooning pasta on plates, surprised. Blaine usually had his homework finished by now, especially if he hadn’t had Glee practice after school. “You’ve been up there since before I got home, didn’t you have study hall today?”  
Blaine shifted. “I got this new research project in Physics now and there’s a test coming for Algebra II—the teachers have just been kind of piling it on lately,” he deflected.  
“Haven’t seen you this wrapped up in work since you started Dalton,” Blaine’s father commented, half-reading some mail as he spoke.  
Blaine shrugged. “Yeah, I guess McKinley’s… still school.”  
His mother nodded. “Well, I’d rather you work through dinner than stay up too late and not get enough sleep. But you need to make sure you’re managing your time well, young man.”  
“…Yes, mom.”  
“Report cards are coming due soon?” his father asked.  
“Yes sir.”  
“Well probably a good time to be spending a little extra time on your work then. I hope your grades didn’t suffer from all the extra time you spent on the musical. Or all that time with Kurt.”  
“Oh I don’t—“ Blaine spluttered, not wanting his father to dwell on that idea.” I think I’m doing okay mostly.”  
“Mostly?”  
Blaine bit his lip. “Just these two classes are kind of tough so have to work a little harder at them,” he admitted.  
Blaine’s father nodded, satisfied. “Nothing wrong with a little challenge, young man.”  
“Yes sir.”  
Blaine’s mother added some salad on her son’s plate and handed it to him with a smile.  
As Blaine headed back upstairs he thought about what his parents would say if they’d ever heard he’d not had his homework. They’d probably be even less happy with his daydreaming in class. School’s really important to them. He smiled to himself, thinking of how Kurt was helping him to keep on track with school. Knowing he wasn’t going to stray so far as to get in trouble with his folks because of it was comforting, but even more than that he liked the idea of being accountable because deep down he wanted to be the best he could be at whatever he took on—school, performing, boyfriend-ing—all of it. He wasn’t always going to like Kurt’s discipline in the moment, he knew, but he saw its value. Not every boyfriend would agree to this, he knew, and he appreciated that Kurt was both willing and discreet. It was another intimacy between them, one others could never understand. God I love him so much.  
When he got up to his room he took out his phone and texted Kurt.  
Not being distracted, I swear—just taking a quick break to say I love you and refuel with dinner before I start the physics project. But I got everything else done.  
Blaine gobbled his food, not realizing how hungry he’d been until he started eating. He gulped down some milk when his phone buzzed.  
Good boy. xoxo  
Blaine smiled, happy that Kurt was pleased. Knowing Kurt was happy was the best feeling. He closed his eyes a moment, breathing in that little joy. Just keep doing what’ll make him proud. I’ve got this.


End file.
